MUNSTER

THE PROVINCES &f

Edited by

GEORGE FLETCHER, F.G.S., M.R.I.A.

MUNSTER

J*.X.JL. ae xcs.tr TS TtE:s3e:i^VE;x>

M U N S : T E R

Edited by

OEORGE FLETCHER, F.G.S., M.R.I.A.

With Maps, Diagrams and IlJustratic

CAMBRIDGE

AT TWE UNIVERSITY PRESS
1921

EDITOR'S NOTE

THE aim of this series is to offer, in a readable form, an
account of the physical features of Ireland, and of the
economic and social activities of its people. It deals
therefore -with matters of fact rather than with matters
of opinion ; and, for this reason, it has happily been
found possible to avoid political controversy. Ireland
deserves to be known for her varied scenery, her wealth
of archaeological and antiquarian lore, her noble educa-
tional traditions, and her literary and artistic achieve-
ments. The progress and status of Ireland as an
agricultural country are recognised and acknowledged,
but her industrial potentialities have, until recently, been
inadequately studied. The causes of the arrested
development of her industries have been frequently
dealt with. Her industrial resources, however, demand
closer attention than they have hitherto received ;
their economic significance has been enhanced by
modern applications of scientific discovery and by
world- wide economic changes. It is hoped that these
pages may contribute to the growing movement in the
direction of industrial reconstruction.

It is unusual to enlist the services of many writers in
a work of modest dimensions, but it was felt that the
more condensed an account, the more necessary was it

\i MUNSTER

to secure authoritative treatment. It is hoped that the
names of the contributors will afford a sufficient guarantee
that the desired end has been achieved. The editorial
task of co-ordinating the work of these contributors
has been made light and agreeable by their friendly
co-operation.

The scope of the volumes and the mode of treatment
adopted in them suggest their suitability for use in the
higher forms of secondary schools. A notable reform
is in course of accomplishment in the teaching of geog-
raphy. The list of place-names is making room for the
more rational study of a country in relation to those
who dwell in it, and of these dwellers in relation to their
environment,

G. F.
.DUBLIN, November ist, 1921

CONTENTS

ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. By R. A. STEWART

MACALISTER, Litt.D., F.S.A., Professor of Celtic
Archaeology, University College, Dublin.

ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY ...... i

Population ........ 5

TOPOGRAPHY. By R. LLOYD PRAKGER, B.A., B.E.,

M.R.I. A., Librarian, National Library of Ireland.

TOPOGRAPHY ........ 6

Mountains . . . . . . . . 12

Rivers and Lakes . . . . . . 18

Traffic Routes . . . . . . - 35

Round the Coast ....... zg

Counties and Towns . . . . . . 38

Co. Kerry. ....... 38

Co. Cork ........ 42

Co. Waterforcl ....... 48

Co. Tipperary ....... 48

Co. Limerick . . . . . . . 51

Co. Clare ........ 52

G-EOLOGY. By ISAAC SWAIN, B.A., A.R.C.Sc., M.R.I. A.,
Professor of Geology and Geography, University

College, Cork ....... 53

THE GLACIAL PERIOD . .... 64

SOILS ......... 73

MINES, MINERALS, AND QUARRIES .... 74

viii MUNSTER

PAGE

BOTANY. By K. LLOYD PRAEGER, B.A., B.E., M.R.I.A

BOTANY ......... 78

Mac gillie uddy's Reeks ...... So

The Killamey Lakes 82

Cork ......... 84

The Biirren Limestones ..... 84

The Galtees ....... 87

The Shannon Estuary ...... 88

Louph l>erg ....... 88

ZOOLOGY. By R. LLOYD PRAEGER, B.A., B.E., M.R.I.A. 92

ANTIQUITIES. By E. C. R. ARMSTRONG, F.S. A., M.R.I.A.,
Keeper of Irish Antiquities, National Museum,

Dublin ........ 104

ARCHITECTURE. By E. C. R. ARMSTRONG, F.S.A.,

M.R.I.A 117

Monastic Foundations . . . , . .117

Cathedrals ........ 126

Churches ........ 134

Castles ........ 135

ADMINISTRATION. By G. FLETCHER, F.G.S., M.R.I.A.,

Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruc-
tion for Ireland . . . . . . .139

Education

141

INDUSTRIES AND MANUFACTURES. By G. FLETCHER,

F.G.S., M.R.I.A i 49

Agriculture . . . . . . . .156

Fisheries ........ 158

DISTINGUISHED MUNSTRRMEN. By R.I BEST D Litt

' "'

ILLUSTRATIONS

PACK

Cottages in the Killarney Mountains . . . 14

Macgillicuddy's Reeks, Killarney . . . . 16

Weir and Sluices, Killaloe . . . . . 21

The Lee at St Patrick's Bridge, Cork ... 23

Listowel and Ballybunion Railway . . . 28

Valencia Harbour, Co. Kerry . . . . 33

Tore Waterfall, Killarney . . . . . 41

Cork, West End 43

Grand Parade, Cork ...... 44

Cobh (Queenstown) Cathedral and Church Hill, Co.

Cork ........ 45

Cobh (Queenstown) Harbour .... 47

Waterford, from the West ..... 49

The Old Quay, Clonmel ..... 50

Stalactite-Stalagmite Pillar in Cave, Mitchelstown . 59

Limestone Terraces, Co. Clare .... 60

The Cliffs at Kilkee, Co. Clare . . . . 61

Roche moutonnee at Loo Bridge, Co. Kerry . . 65

Perched Block, Co. Kerry ..... 69

Glaciated Rock Surface, Co. Cork . . . . 71

Terraces at Inniscarra on the River Lee . . 72

Pinguicula grandiflora ...... 79

x MUNSTER

PAGE

Strawberry Tree at the Upper Lake, Killarney . 81

Black Head, Co. Clare, Saxifraga Sternbergii in the

foreground ....... 85

The Kerry Slug . . . . . . 98

LimiKiea pnrtenuis ..... .99

Holy Cross Abbey, Co. Tippcrary . . . . 118

Eonis Friary, Co. Clare ..... 121

Trinitarian Friary, Adare, Co. Limerick . . 123

Franciscan Friary, Adare ..... 125

Corcomroe Abbey, Co. Clare .... 127

The Keep, Desmond Castle, Adare . . . 136

Thomond Bridge and King John's Castle, Limerick. 137
University College, Cork . . . . .141

Crawford Municipal Technical Institute, Cork . . 143

Hanlbowline . . . . , . .145

Training College, Limerick . . . . .146

Ursiiiine Convent, Waterford .... 148

Twisting Machines in a Woollen Factory . . 152

Creamery, Tipperary . . . . . .157

Lax Weir Salmon Fisheries . . , , -159

Salmon Crib, Lax Weir . . . . .160

John Philpot Curran . . . . . .162

Field-Marshal Viscount Gough .... 165

Rev. George Salmon, D.D. ..... 159

Luke Wadding . . , . . . .170

ILLUSTRATIONS
MAPS AND DIAGRAMS

PAGE

Geological Map of Ireland .... Front Cover

Munster (land over 500 feet elevation) ... 7

The East-and-West River Valleys .... 9

Munster (land over 250 feet elevation) . . . 10

Map showing East and West trend of Southern

Railways ....... 27

The Railway climb out of Cork . . . . 27

Cork Harbour diagrammatic 34

Cork Harbour actual . . . . . . 35

The Killarney District 40

Physical-Political Map of Munster . . End of book

The" illustrations on pp. 14, 16, 23, 28, 33, 41, 43, 44, 45, 47, 49, 50, 137,
141, 145, 146, 148, 157 are reproduced from photographs by Valentine &
Sons, Ltd. ; those on pp. 21, 159, 160 from photographs by Mr G.
Fletcher ; that on p. 81 from a photograph by Mr R. Welch ; those on
pp. 121, 123, 125 from photographs by Mr T. J. Westropp ; that on p. 152
from a photograph supplied by Martin Mahony & Bros., Ltd. ; those on
pp. 162, 169, 170 from photographs by Mr T. F. Geoghegan ; that on
p. 165 by permission of Viscountess Gough and of Constable & Co., Ltd.

Acknowledgments are due to the Department of Agriculture and
Technical Instruction for Ireland, and to the Royal Irish Academy, for
permission to use illustrations which have appeared in their publications,

MUNSTER

ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY

THE oldest source of information that we possess
regarding the ancient geography of Ireland is contained
in the work of the second-century Alexandrian, Ptolemy.
The following are the geographical names which he
gives for the region now called the province of
Munster : on the West Coast, the River Dour, probably
one of the inlets of the sea (such as the Kenmare
river) at the south-west of Ireland. South of this
is the Hiernos Potamos another of these estuaries.
This south-west corner of the island was, according to
Ptolemy, inhabited by a tribe called the Vellabroi, of
whom we hear again in the fifth century historian Orosius,
but apparently nowhere certainly in Irish traditional
history. At the angle was the Notion Akron, which
perhaps it is hopeless to identify with certainty among
the headlands of that complicated coast-line. Turning to
the south coast, we meet the Dabrona river, with a town
Ivernis upon it, inhabited by people called Ivernoi. The
position identifies these with the River Lee (Sabhrann 1 -
in Irish), Cork, and the people there dwelling. The
only other place-name is the River Birgos, whose name
and position identify it with the Barrow (or rather
the estuary of the Barrow and Suir). The sea west

1 On the relation between the names Dabrona and Sabhrann,
see the volume on Ireland in this series.

m A

2 MUNSTER

of Ireland Ptolemy calls the Okeanos Dutikos ; that to
the south, the Okeanos Vergionos.

The modern name of Munster, like Ulster and Leinster,
is a hybrid, consisting of the Scandinavian suffix -ster
(staSr) added to the ancient name Mumha (genitive,
Mumhan). From the native name is derived the ad-
jective Mamonian, found, e.g., in Moore's Irish Melodies.
The geographical history of this province is extremely
complicated, and only the barest outline can be given
here. As many as five " Munsters " are recognised by
native Irish writers : these are Tuadh-Mumha (Anglicised
"Thomond," or North Munster) ; Ur-Mumha (" Ormond,"
East Munster) ; Mumha Meadhon (Central Munster) ;
Dcas-Mumha (" Desmond," South Munster) ; and lar-
Mumha (West Munster). The first and fourth of these,
North and South Munster, were the names of the two
provinces of Munster at times when the whole province
was sub-divided.

The territorial divisions of Munster were very numer-
ous, and only the most important can be mentioned
here. Among them were the Ddl gCais (pronounced Daul
Gash) in Tuadh-Mumha, corresponding to the modern
county of Clare. This was the sept to which the king
Brian B6roimhe belonged. They were a Munster people
who conquered and occupied this district ; till that
event it had been reckoned to Connacht. The Ui
Fidhgheinte, the descendants of a third century king
of Munster, occupied the western part of Co. Limerick.
The Ciar-raighe, or tribe of Ciar (a son of Fergus and
the famous queen Meadhbh of Connacht) ; this was a
sept with several branches, one of which settled in
Luachair (West Kerry) ; from their name the word
*' Kerry " is derived. In the barony of Iveragh in

ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY 3

Kerry were settled the Ui Rdthach, and round Loch,
Lein (Killarney) were the Eoghan-acht, or people of
Eoghan. The Corcu Duibhne inhabited the Dingle
peninsula (now Corkaguiney) and other parts of the
county of Kerry. The ancient territorial name Berre
survives in the modern barony of Bear, Co. Cork.
Other peoples were the Muintear Bdire in West
Carbury, Co. Cork ; the Corcu Laighde (to which the
sept of the O'Driscolls belong) in the baronies of Carbury,
Beare, and Bantry ; the Ceneal mBeice, in the modern
barony of Kinalmeaky (the name of which fairly re-
presents the old pronunciation), the Ui Liathdin, the
descendants of Eochu Liathanach, in the baronies of
Barrymore and Kinatalloon, and the Ui Fothaid, the
descendants of Fothad, in the barony of Iffa and Offa,
Co. Tipper ary. The Fir Muighe Feine, or men of the
plain of Fene, are still remembered in the name of the
town of Fermoy. An important people was the Musc-
raighe, the descendants of Coirpre Muse, son of Conaire
Mor (king of Ireland, according to the Annals, from B.C.
108 to B.C. 39) : these held various territories in Co. Cork,
and the baronies of Muskerry preserve their name. We
may also mention Eile, a territory in the south of King's
Co., and north of Tipperary, the Corcu Athrach in
Tipperary, and the Deisi in the baronies of Decies, Co.
Waterford. 1

1 Most of these names express the descent of the leading family
of the territory from an ancestor, either by suffixing a syllable, as
-acht, -raighe, -which turns the personal name to a tribal designa-
tion ; or by prefixing a -word such as Ui, " descendants," or Dal,
Corcu, Ceneal, " race, sept," to the name of the ancestor in the
genitive case. The ancestor is either a historical character, or
else a mythical being, generally a god : but the subject arid the,
origin of these family names are very obscure.

4 MUNSTER

An important region is Co. Tipperary called Magh
Feimhein (Magh, pronounced something like mwa, means
"plain"). It seems to have been a sacred plain, the centre
of the worship of the goddess Brighid. In this plain was
the fairy palace of the mythical king Bodhbh Dearg, of
whom we read in the story of the Children of Lir ; and it
was dominated by the mountain called Sliabh na mBaii
Finn (now Slievenaman) , "hill of the white women"
unquestionably a group of goddesses ; and by
the enormous tumulus Cnoc Rafann, the largest arti-
ficial earth-mound in Ireland. Though this in outline
resembles a Norman " motte," the exceptional size of
the structure points to the probability of its being much
earlier in origin. It might well have been scarped and
otherwise manipulated by the Normans to serve their
own purposes.

The shiring of Munster is as old as King John's time ;
Waterford, Cork, Limerick, Kerry, and Tipperary all
appear as counties in documents of his period. But the
division was not maintained throughout the whole
period of the Plantagenets and Tudors, though the
complex history of the delimitations and names of the
shires and territories would hardly be in place here ; it
has little to do with the geography viewed in its bearing
on the population. It is, however, interesting to notice
that Tipperary remained a county palatine (that is,
a county to the administrator of which sovereign power .
was delegated) till 1715, when the second Duke of
Ormond was attainted and his jurisdiction abolished.
This was the last relic of a form of government that had
at the beginning of the English occupation been estab-
lished over most of the country.

ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY 5

POPULATION

According to Beddoe's observations, the population
of the province is very mixed in type. Almost the
largest proportion of dark-haired and dark-eyed people
in Ireland were found in Mallow, Co. Cork ; and next to
the upper classes in Dublin, among which are probably
many of recent English origin, the fairest people in
Ireland were found at Charleville, Co. Limerick. The
people at other centres lay evenly distributed between
these extremes. The colour seems to darken as we
proceed from east to west, and from south to north ;
though there are some exceptions, notably a very dark
centre at Cappoquin, Co. Waterford.

In stature the western and southern provinces are
on the whole slightly taller than the people of the north
and east. The cephalic index (see Ireland volume)
ranges from 77.1 in West Munster to 76.7 in East
Munster ; the heads of the Munstermen are distinctly
longer than those of the Connachtmen.

The Irish of the province of Munster is perhaps
slightly harsher to the ear than that of Connacht, owing
to the emphasis laid on the final "gutturals : the
musical inflexions of the consonantal sounds, though
observed in Munster as in the other provinces, are
scarcely heard with the delicate perfection of the
best Connacht speakers. Owing to the depletion of
Munster by emigration, the Irish language has
declined in Munster as in Connacht, though it
has gained ground in the other two provinces. In
1891 there were 9060 people in Munster who could
speak Irish only, and a total number of 307,663 Irish
speakers (26.2 per cent, of the total population of the

6 MUNSTER

province). In 1901 these figures had sunk respectively
to 4387 and 276,268 respectively, and in 1911 to 2766
and 228,694, the latter representing a percentage of
22.1 of the whole population.

TOPOGRAPHY

MUNSTER is the southern province of Ireland, including
roughly all the area west and south of Waterford Haven
and Galway Bay. It is the largest of the four Irish
provinces, having an area of 9536 square miles ; Ulster
comes next with 8567 square miles, Cormaught last
with 6802. Munster has also the longest and most
diversified coast-line.

The boundary of Munster is a sinuous line running
from Galway Bay to Waterford Haven, and separating
the counties of Clare, Tipperary, and Waterford on the
south from Galway, King's County, Queen's County,
Kilkenny, and Wexford on the north. Leaving the
southern shore of Galway Bay, the line climbs across
the eastern end of the strange grey hills of Burren,
descends into the plain of central Clare, climbs again
across the desolate moors of the Slieve Aughty range,
and descends to the Shannon about half-way along the
great lake-like expanse of Lough Derg. Thence it
follows that river northward for some seventeen miles,
turning eastward again along the line of the Little
Brosna river. It zigzags over the limestone pastures
as far south as Toomyvara and north again to Roscrea,
where it crosses the main watershed of Ireland between
the ranges of Slieve Bloom and Devil's Bit, and runs

TOPOGRAPHY 7

away south-east over rather featureless country between
Tipperary and Kilkenny to join the River Suir a couple
of miles below the town of Carrick. Thence the river
forms the boundary, with Co. Waterford on the southern
side and Kilkenny and finally Wexford on the northern,

Munster

(Land over 500 feet elevation shown in black]

till the sea is reached in the spacious estuary of Waterford
Haven.

Excepting certain broad flat tracts within the Shannon
basin in the west, Munster is a hilly region, and it includes
most of the highest mountains found within the country.
Three groups rise to over 3000 feet, an elevation else-
where attained only in Wicklow.

The leading natural features of the province, and also

8 MUNSTER

those relating to human activities mountain-ranges,
valleys, rivers, coast-line, railways, roads, the position
of the towns and the distribution of farmed land and
of population are closely bound up with a striking
feature which is fully dealt with in the section relating
to" Geology, but which must be recalled here if the topog-
raphy of the province is to be understood. In very
ancient times this portion of the earth's crust was so
crushed together that it became folded thrown into a
series of ridges and furrows, whose direction lay east
and west, or north-east and south-west. The covering
of limestone which at that time spread over the area
has since been to a great extent removed, exposing,
especially on the ridges, solid masses of slates and sand-
stones which lay below. In many of the valleys the
limestone still remains. The rivers too, which after
the folded area had been smoothed by denudation,
flowed southward across it, have had their original
sources cut up by the great development of tributaries
running from west to east along the bands of slate
and limestone remaining in the downfolds. These
'subsequent" streams now form, for instance, the
more important parts of the Blackwater and the Lee,
and the original " consequent " courses are seen only in
their final reaches, marked by an abrupt southward
bend of the river. On the uplands north of these bends,
" beheaded " remnants or dry gaps represent the courses
of the former principal streams. For further information
on this extremely interesting feature, the classic paper
of J. B. Jukes (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. xviii.,
p. 378 ) ought to be consulted. As a general result
of this folding and subsequent denudation we have
now a series of great east - and - west ridges and

10 MUNSTER

valleys, which produce the magnificent mountainous
promontories and deep sea-inlets of Cork and Kerry,
and determine the direction of the rivers and to
a great extent of the railways in the southern
part of the province. In the northern portion of

Munster

(Land over 250 feet elevation shown -in black]

Munster in Clare, North Tipperary, and Limerick
results of this period of folding are not so obvious.
The northern and eastern parts of Tipperary present
many areas of typical Central Plain country ^wide-
stretching limestone pastures with occasional peat-bogs.
As we travel south-westward the mountain-ridges and
valleys assume more and more a trend in the direc-

TOPOGRAPHY n

tion indicated, till in Western Cork and Kerry the
wilderness of mountain is only interrupted by the deep
sea-filled valleys called Bantry Bay, Kenmare River,
and Dingle Bay. Northern Clare has a type of scenery
of its own, which will be described later ; south of this,
stretching across the Shannon and on to Killarney, is a
wide area of broad, bleak, boggy hills, formed of shales
the least interesting stretch of country to be found in
Munster.

In Munster the phenomena which characterise the
Irish climate a slight annual range of temperature, a
high rainfall, and a high degree of humidity all attain
their most emphatic expression. In January the iso-
therm of 42 F. includes more than half the province,
while in South Cork and South Kerry the temperature
during that (the coldest) winter month is above 44.
The summers are correspondingly cool, the average
July temperature of Munster being between 59 and 60.
As regards precipitation, while in Tipperary this is
moderate about 40 inches it rises as one passes
south-west, so that the 5o-inch curve includes West Cork
and the greater part of Kerry. As one approaches the
main mountain mass of Kerry, 60 inches and 70 inches
are passed, and among the Reeks the rainfall is probably
much higher even than this. The effect of the perennial
humidity is evidenced in a remarkable manner by the
vegetation ; nowhere in the British Isles do moisture-
loving mosses and ferns flourish so luxuriantly as in
Kerry. The prevailing westerly winds, which are the
cause of this excessive moisture, are also responsible
for the absence of trees in the more exposed western
tracts, and of even bushes on many of the islands and

12 MUNSTER

headlands ; though where shelter is afforded luxuriant
vegetation at once puts in an appearance.

MOUNTAINS

Far to the eastward, in Co. Waterford, the Comeraghs
form a highly picturesque group of hills of irregular
shape. They present an imposing series of lofty sand-
stone scarps, and their summits lie mostly between
2000 and 2600 ft. The Comeraghs derive their name
from the deep coombs, embosoming lakes, which form
their most striking feature. The most notable of these,
Coomshingaun, presents a sheer cliff over 1000 ft. in
height, dropping into a deep lakelet at its foot.

North of the Comeraghs, across the valley of the Suir,
in Tipperary, the broad cone of Slievenaman (2295 ft.)
rises solitary and dominates the country for many miles.

Not many miles west of the Comeraghs, the Knock-
mealdown Mountains form a bold east-and-west ridge,
dropping into the Suir valley on the north and the
valley of the Blackwater on the south. They present
a bold row of peaks of over 2000 ft., the highest point
being 2609 ft. A picturesque road climbs across the
centre of the range, ascending to over noo ft.

A few miles north-west of the Knockmealdowns,
across a limestone trough in which lie the celebrated
Mitchelstown Caves, a loftier east-and-west ridge, the
Galtees, towers up, with steep slopes especially to the
north and west. They attain in Galtymore an elevation
of 3015 ft, a height reached elsewhere in Ireland only in
Kerry and Wicklow. This is a compact and picturesque
mountain group, with several fine coombs embosoming
lakes on the northern slopes. Lower hills (up to 1700 f t.) ,
known as the Ballyhoura Mountains, continue far to

TOPOGRAPHY 13

the west, and are conspicuous from the train about
Charleville, where the line to Cork passes round their
flank and turns south to Mallow.

In North Tipper ary, some 20 to 30 miles north of
the Galtees, there is a large area of hilly country
stretching north-westward to the Shannon at Killaloe
and north-eastward to the Devil's Bit, near the borders
of King's County. Much the highest point is Slieve
Kimalta, or Keeper Hill (2278 ft.). A western outlier
of this range, the Arra Mountains, separated from the
main mass by a deep narrow valley possibly an old
course of the Shannon^ forms the eastern side of the
deep Shannon gorge, where that river, passing between
high hills, at length escapes from the plain and plunges
down from Lough Derg to the sea.

The western side of the Shannon gorge is formed by
a group of hills known as Slieve Bernagh (1746 ft.).
Though separated from the Arra Mountains by the
Shannon and Lough Derg, these two really form a
single hill - group, through which the river has cut
its way.

North of Slieve Bernagh again, in. Clare, there is a
large area of bleak hilly country rising here and there
to well over 1000 ft., known as Slieve Aughty.

All the hill-groups which have been mentioned so far
are more or less isolated uplands surrounded by limestone
lowlands, and formed of older slates and sandstones
(Silurian or Devonian) which have been pushed up
and now impend, dark and heathery, over the limestone
grass-lands.

South of the valley of the Blackwater the limestone
remains only in a few narrow valley bottoms, and we
find ourselves in almost continuously broken country,

14 MUNSTER

which gets more and more mountainous as we go west-
ward. The first portion of the hilly country which we
meet is the upland which lies between the Blackwater
and Lee valleys in Co. Cork. Through 'a transverse
"through" valley near its eastern end the main line of
railway finds its way southward to Cork (see p. 26).

Cottages in the Killarney Mountains

Further west the hills attain the dignity of mountains
(Boggeragh and Derrynasaggart Mountains), where
Caherbarnagh (2239 ft.) and The Paps (2284 ft.) look
down on the railway between Millstreet and Killarney.
Beyond that the broad ridge is interrupted by the
interesting flat-bottomed narrow valley, overhung by
high hills, through which the railway and road find
their way to Kenmare, The question of the origin of

TOPOGRAPHY . 15

this pass is dealt with in the section on Geology. West-
ward the hills divide into two main groups, one
on either side of Kenmare river, and present, not a
simple chain, but a wild tangle .of mountains. The
southern mass runs south-westward for over 50 miles
between the Kenmare river and Bantry Bay, till it
terminates in the lofty cliffs of Dursey Island. For
30 miles from the Macroom-Killarney road to
Hungry Hill the watershed (which is also the Cork-
Kerry boundary) keeps above the looo-ft. contour,
and the three roads which cross the range climb over
high passes by the aid of numerous zigzags to ease
their gradient. Many summits rise to 2000-2200 ft.,
the loftiest being Knockboy (2321 ft.). The middle
portion of the range is known as the Caha Mountains
and the lower western extremity as Slieve Miskish.
Towns or villages among the hills there are none ; the
centres of population, which are small and few, lie along
the coast at the foot of the mountains on the northern
side Kenmare, and on the southern Glengarriff and
Castletown Berehaven.

The northern of the two mountain masses forms
similarly a great promontory, as long (some 40 miles)
as the other, and twice as broad. It has the sea-inlet
called the Kenmare river for its south-eastern boundary
and the broader Dingle Bay on its north-western side.
On the north a deep narrow trough of limestone runs
from Killarney westward to Dingle Bay, down which
the River Flesk, which drains the Lakes of Killarney,
meanders to the sea. This tract of some 600 square
miles is filled with mountains, which include the
highest peaks in Ireland. Far to the east, between
Killarney and the Kenmare valley, the broad mass of

i6

MUNSTER

Mangerton (2756 ft.) dominates a number of lower
summits.

Westward a few miles, across the deep gash in which,
lies the Upper Lake of Killarney, Macgillicuddy's
Reeks rise head and shoulders above the surrounding

Macgillicuddy's Reeks, Killarney

sea of hills. These are a beautiful group of lofty cones,
with steep sides and many imposing cliff ranges, and
deep coombs in which lie dark tarns. The loftiest
Carrantuohill, the highest mountain in Ireland, attains
3414 ft., and several of the other peaks exceed '3000 ft
At the east end of the Reeks the famous Gap of Dunloe"
through which a road runs, separates them from the

TOPOGRAPHY 17

Purple Mountain group which looks down on the Lower
Lake.

Running south-west from the Reeks, an irregular
chain of peaks of over 2000 ft. forms a barrier almost
to the extremity of the promontory at Derrynane.
Lower ground along the north-western base of this
ridge allows a road to traverse the whole length of
the promontory in a parallel direction. North of this
line again high hills rise and stretch on to the coast of
Dingle Bay.

The low limestone depression that runs from Killarney
to the sea at Dingle Bay zigzags back eastward to Castle-
island and back again to the sea at Tralee.

Westward from this valley, and quite cut off from the
continuous mass of mountains which have just been
dealt with, a wild mountain chain protrudes far into
the Atlantic, terminating in the Blasket Islands, which
are themselves steep mountain peaks rising out of
the ocean. For 45 miles this highland extends, with a
breadth of 6 to 12 miles. The hills divide themselves
into three groups : in the east Slieve Mish (2796 ft,),
in the centre the Beenoskee group (2713 ft), and
beyond that the glorious knife-edge ridge of Brandon
(3127 ft.).

Inland, to the east of the Dingle promontory, a large
area of rather low, boggy hills extends over parts of
Kerry, Cork, and Limerick, stretching northward to
the Shannon. Many flattish summits rise to from
1000 to 1400 ft. The district is rather desolate,
and the soft, shaly rocks produce no features of
interest.' The same type of surface is continued
northward across the Shannon into Central Clare.
Continuing northward we enter, in the barony of
m B

i8 MUNSTER

Burren, a very different and extremely interesting
upland.

The Burren is formed of limestone hills of about
1000 ft. in height (Slieve Elva rises to 1134 ft.). As
viewed from a distance, their outlines are gently
rounded, but among the hills some deep passes and lofty
cliff ranges are to be found. The feature which gives
this upland its peculiar character is the limestone
that almost everywhere is quite bare of covering.
For mile after mile the grey rock, its surface seamed and
carved by rain into fantastic shapes, lies open to the
sky. The beds lie horizontally, and terrace rises above
terrace.

The rain sinks into innumerable deep fissures which
seam the rock, and streams -or standing water are almost
absent from the area : the drainage is underground,
and in places the water may be seen gushing from the
rocks at sea-level. So damp is the climate that the
absence of soil and stream does not prevent a luxuriant
vegetation from flourishing wherever a little vegetable
mould has been left ; and the bare country is actually
in much demand for sheep-grazing, so sweet and abundant
are the grasses which spring from every chink. The
vegetation includes a large number of very interesting
plants, as described on p. 84.

RIVERS AND LAKES

The river systems of Munster divide themselves into
two groups. In the northern half the Shannon is the
dominating feature, flowing south-westward through
a wide plain only occasionally interrupted by hills,
and draining the whole of Limerick, the greater part
of Clare, and half of North Tipperary. In the southern

TOPOGRAPHY 19

half the drainage has been profoundly affected by the
east-and-west folding of the country, to which reference
was made on p. 8, and the rivers conform in a very
definite manner to conditions imposed by this ancient
crumpling of the crust.

Munster touches the Shannon first where the Little
Brosna river, separating King's County from Tipperary,
runs into the main stream at Meelick, where one of the
few rapids of the Shannon interrupts the placid course
of the river, and locks have been built to assist naviga-
tion. Thence the broad slow stream meanders down to
Portumna, where it enters Lough Derg, the lower two-
thirds of which belong wholly to Munster. Lough Derg
is some 22 miles in length, and generally about ij
mile wide, with occasional inlets on either hand which
increase the width to about twice that amount at
one point to 9 miles.

Lough Derg is, in fact, a great river expansion rather
than a lake, and has been produced mainly by solution
of the limestone which forms the greater part of its shores.
The upper end is shallow, with flat limestone country on
either hand, but as one proceeds down its winding island-
studded course the scenery gets bolder on account of
the approach of uplands which close in on either hand,
till at the lower end the lake lies in a gorge between
steep hills. These hills are formed of slates, and the
fact that the river has cut this deep gorge through
them instead of following a different course eastward
or westward across the low limestone country is
the most remarkable feature of Shannon topography.
Its course is believed to date from a time when the
great limestone area to the north stood much higher,
so that the route over Lough Derg formed the easiest

20 MUNSTER

way to the sea. The plain was lowered by denuda-
tion as the Shannon cut its way downward, the rate
being determined by the rate at which the gorge
could be cut, since this was the outlet for the removed
material. As seen now the topography of the middle
Shannon is very striking. The traveller standing at
Athlone sees all round him nothing but plain, save to
the southward, where a distant rim of hills breaks the
line of the horizon. Towards these hills the river
takes its course. As one advances, the hills close in
to right and left, and still the river goes straight on
for their centre. One gets the idea that the Shannon
is running uphill. As Lough Derg is entered, it is clear
that the stream is heading for a deep narrow notch
which appears far in front. Presently the hills approach
so as to descend to the water's edge on either hand.
Their dark heathery summits rise to 1500 and 1700 ft.
on the east and west. And then at Killaloe the lake-
like expanse narrows and the Shannon goes foaming
over ledges of rock to resume further down its placid
flow over the level limestones. Having in its middle
course pursued its way for 130 miles over the Limestone
Plain with a fall of only 51 ft., it now drops 97 ft. in
18 miles to reach sea-level at Limerick. The great
estuary which it then forms, over 50 miles in length,
Is described on p. 31.

The Suir, rising in the hilly region of North
Tipperary, flows southward through flat limestone
country past Thurles, and at Caher passes close by the
eastern end of the high ridge of the Galtees. Ten miles
further on, at Newcastle, it finds itself in a cul-de-sac,
caused by the dominance of the east-and-west ridges
already referred to frequently. The Suir may at one

TOPOGRAPHY 21

time, when the limestone floor occupied a higher level,
have flowed on between the Knockmealdowns and
Comeraghs to the sea at Dungarvan or Youghal. But
now, carried off eastward by a tributary of the old
consequent river that has its lower reach in Waterford
Haven, it follows the limestone trough, above which
the more resisting sandstones form mountain land,

Weir and Sluices, Killaloe

bends sharply northward, and then turns eastward
along the base of the Comeraghs, through Clonmel
and Carrick-on-Suir (where it becomes tidal) to meet
the sea at Waterford Haven. The monotony of its
marshy upper reaches is fully compensated by the
beauty of its middle course about Caher and Clonmel,
with the lofty ridges of the Galtees, Knockmealdowns,
and Comeraghs rising around.

The west-to-east course of the Blackwater is one of the
most striking features of the geography of the South

22 MUNSTER

of Ireland. Rising on the boggy Coal-measure hills of
North Kerry, it flows south for some 10 miles to the
foot of the high hills which are grouped round Caher-
barnagh (2239 ft.). Then it strikes the upper end of
a limestone trough which it follows almost due eastward
for nearly 60 miles to Cappoquin. Then, deserting
this trough, which continues eastward to meet the sea
at Dungarvan, it turns abruptly southward, cuts through
the barrier of slates which all the way has formed its
southern bank, and flows for 15 miles through
an interesting and picturesque gorge in places 400 to
500 ft. deep to reach the sea at Youghal. This east-
and-west trough is the best marked of those which
characterise the South of Ireland, and is utilised from
end to end by railways and main roads. A minor
parallel valley lying a few miles south of the eastern part
of the trough is occupied by. an important tributary,
the River Bride, which enters the main stream a few
miles below Cappoquin. The gorge between Cappoquin
and Youghal represents one of the few portions of the
ancient north-to-south drainage channels which has
been continuously occupied by a river. In old days it
bore to the sea the rains which fell on areas to the north-
ward ; possibly the Suir once continued its southern
course, and passing between the Knockmealdowns
and Comeraghs, debouched through this gorge ; now
the lowering of the limestone troughs by solution has
diverted it to the eastward, and the old gorge serves to
discharge waters which, in their turn, reach the ocean
far to the east of their gathering-grounds. .

The Lee and the Bandon Rivers reproduce on a smaller
scale, but still in a striking way, the features just de-
scribed in the case of the Blackwater, save that their

8

O
U

3
tt

%
a

24 MUNSTER

courses no longer lie to so great an extent on limestone.
The Lee flows from the romantic mountain - lake of
Gouganebarra, only 9 miles north of the head of Bantry
Bay, and runs eastward past Macroom to Cork, where
it reaches sea-level ; there, like the Blackwater, it turns
south and cuts through ridges of slate to the ocean ; its
complicated tidal portion, which forms Cork Harbour, is
dealt with on p. 46. The Bandon river has a some-
what similar but more irregular course ; it likewise
flows eventually southward into the Atlantic between
bold headlands, forming Kinsale Harbour.

While the most famous lake in Munster is at
Killarney, the largest is Lough Derg, which lies
within the province, save that the northern part of
its western shore belongs to Galway. The features
of this large expanse of water have already been
sketched in the description of the River Shannon (p. 19).
A few additional particulars may be added here. In
the limestone portion of the lake that is, the whole
save the southern end the shores and bottom are very
irregular, as is usual in lakes due to solution, and the
depth not great. Islands and reefs abound, and the
shores are low and rocky. The greatest width nine
miles, measured east and west from Scarriff Bay and
Youghal Bay corresponds with the southern edge of
the limestone. The east-and-west shore-line south of
this expansion marks the incoming of the non-soluble
slates, and the lake immediately contracts into a deep
narrow gut, about I mile across and 100 ft. in depth,
with high banks. The excessive deepening here is
probably due to glacial action.
The lakes of Killarney are described on p. 39.

TOPOGRAPHY 25

TRAFFIC ROUTES

Railways are more sensitive than roads to the
configuration of the surface of the country, because
the heavy loads drawn by locomotives tell severely
when hills are encountered. Thus, while a gradient
of I in 30 is considered reasonable on a main road, i in
100 is looked on as a severe hill on a line of railway.
Thus it comes that, as a study of a map of any hilly
district will show, the railways follow so far as possible
river valleys wherever the surface is undulating, often
reaching by a circuitous but level route a point arrived
at by road by a bold climb through hills. These con-
siderations apply in Ireland to the province of Munster
in particular, because in this area, especially in the
southern two-thirds of it, a series of strong ridges and
valleys characterise the surface, running east and west,
or north-east and south-west. These are the visible
effects of ancient crushing and folding of this portion
of the earth's crust, as explained on a previous page.
Thus easy east-and-west routes are available for the
railways, but practicable north-and-south routes are
few. The sketch-map on p. 27 will show how the
railways have conformed to the existing physical
conditions.

Taking Cork, the capital of the province, we see (p. 9)
that easy routes to east and west lie in the Lee valley and
its continuation to Youghal, and in the valley of the
Bandon river. These are availed of in the lines to
Macroom and Coachford on the west, and in the line to
Youghal on the east ; while the Cork, Bandon, and South
Coast Railway, by crossing a low ridge on the south,
utilises the parallel Bandon valley for a considerable

26 MUNSTER

distance. On the other hand, a high broad ridge
stretching east and west between the valleys of the
Lee and Blackwater bars the way to the north.
The outflanking of its barrier is not practicable, and
it has to be overcome by a heroic climb to the north-
west, where a transverse depression (one of the
ancient north-and-south river valleys referred to on
p. 8), and a north and south consequent valley on
either side, allow the ridge to be crossed at an
elevation of about 500 ft. From the station at
Cork, with its long curved platforms, the line, com-
mencing to ascend at once, plunges through a three
quarter mile tunnel under the hill on which the
barracks stand, and skirting the northern side of
the city, climbs steeply away, the gradient being
for a time i in 60, an exceptional slope for a main
line ; in spite of the power of modern locomotives,
a second engine has often to be used here. Once
the summit is reached, 13 miles from Cork, an easy
descent leads to the Blackwater valley and Mallow,
whence the way is open to Dublin. As will be seen
from the map (p. 27), no other railway has been
constructed across these east-and-west folds; but
far on either hand, at Waterford and Killarney,
other lines get northward by passing round their ends.
The railways of northern Munster mostly branches
of the Great Southern and Western system need
no special mention. The nature of the surface
allows of a loose network of lines, of which
Limerick is the centre ; from that city railways
radiate in five directions. Waterford, in the extreme
east of the province, is another important railway
centre and port, with six lines of railway radiating

TOPOGRAPHY

r

28 MUNSTER

from it. Extensive recent improvements here, con-
nected with the establishment of a fast passenger
service ma Rosslare (30 miles to the eastward) and
Fishguard in Wales have resulted in all the lines,
except the short one to Tramore, being brought into one
station. A corresponding improvement at Cork has
recently linked up the Bandon line on the west with
the lines to Dublin and Queenstown (now Cobh).

Listowel and Ballybunion Railway

Special mention may be made of the Listowel and
Ballybunion Railway in North Kerry, since it is the only
line in the British Isles constructed on the mono-rail
system. The permanent way consists of a single
elevated rail supported on trestles ; the equilibrium of
the rolling stock is maintained by its being built to hang
down on each side, like panniers on a horse's back.
The line is about 10 miles in length, and pays a good
dividend to the shareholders.
Railway construction has now been pushed far into

TOPOGRAPHY 29

the western wilds, and many of the more remote places,
such as Lehinch, Kilkee, Dingle, Valencia, Kenmare,
and Skull are connected with the main systems. Some
of these lines are broad gauge (i.e. 5 ft. 3 in.) and others
narrow gauge (3 ft.), and most of them pass through
wild and beautiful scenery.

There are practically no canals in Munster. The
large and deep estuaries of some of the rivers which
represent the seaward continuation of the present
river valleys, now drowned by a sinking of the land
provide natural waterways, some of which are much
used ; for instance, the noble estuary of the Shannon,
extending for over 50 miles from Loop Head to
Limerick, and the harbours of Cork and Waterford.
The tidal part of the Suir is used, giving a sea connection
with Carrick-on-Suir ; but the only artificial waterway
in the province of any importance is that by which the
Shannon has been made navigable in its steep descent
from Lough Derg to the sea, where, after an almost
level course, it falls 97 ft. in 18' miles.

ROUND THE COAST

Starting at the boundary of Clare and Galway, on
Galway Bay, a low coast with deep indentations, after
the manner of the limestone, leads to Ballyvaughan,
a village situated in a sheltered bay, from which a
steamer connection with. Galway is maintained a
necessary accommodation, as the nearest railway
station (Ardrahan) is 16 miles distant. Around Bally-
vaughan and westward to the Atlantic, and filling the
greater part of the barony of Burren, there rise the
hills whose strange appearance catches the eye of the
traveller at Galway or on the moors of southern Conne-

30 MUNSTER

mara. They are formed of bare limestone, rising
terrace above terrace over many miles to a height of
1000 ft. or more. A good road follows the coast
westward along the shore, which towards Black Head
becomes steep. Rounding the headland, which marks
the entrance of Galway Bay, we see the Aran Islands,
which are low shelves of the same limestone rock,
and which give us a measure of the former extent of
this formation. Though geologically a part of Clare,
these islands belong politically to Galway, and are
dealt with in the Connaught volume of the present
series.

Beyond Fisherstreet the limestone gives way to beds
of shale and flagstones, and the coast rises into the finest
range of cliffs to be found in Ireland.

The grand rock-wall, known as the digs of Moher,
extends for several miles along the coast, attaining an
elevation of over 650 ft. On account of the tabular
nature of the rock the top is flat, and one can safely
approach the edge and look down the great perpen-
dicular wall to where the Atlantic swell surges round
its base. Several tall outlying pinnacles rising from
the water enhance the effect.

Beyond the Cliffs of Moher there is a sharp indentation
of the coast, forming Liscannor Bay, in which stands
the little watering-place of Lahinch. Thence a storm-
swept rocky coast, with occasional sandy bays, trends
south-westward for nearly 40 miles to Loop Head.
Towards the south, where stands Kilkee, much fre-
quented by summer visitors, dark cliffs of shale,
fantastically carved by the sea, prevail.

Between Loop Head and Kerry Head, which projects
10 miles to the southward, the great estuary of the

TOPOGRAPHY 31

Shannon opens. From its mouth to Limerick, where
the river ceases to be tidal, the distance is 54 miles.
During the greater part of this distance the Shannon
maintains a breadth of from i to 3 miles. In the
lower part of the estuary the gravelly shores are
diversified and picturesque, with many villages along
the water's edge ; while further up the land on either
side is lower, its banks become muddy, and great
areas of marshy pasture fringe the river. Two-thirds
way up on the northern shore the wide muddy estuary
of the Fergus opens out, studded with islands. The
Fergus itself is quite a small stream, but its estuary,
which is a flooded limestone lowland, would do credit to
a large river. As a result of the marshy nature of the
lands bordering the Shannon in the upper part of the
estuary, the towns and villages are no longer situated
on its banks, but lie some miles back from the river till
we come to Limerick, where the ground on either side
is firm.

For communication between Limerick and the many
villages along the estuary, this fine waterway is availed
of, and steamers run along its whole length. Half-way
down its southern bank, Foynes is connected by rail
with Limerick. Far down the northern shore a narrow-
gauge line (the West Clare Railway) runs from Kilrush
northward, and connects by a circuitous route with
Ennis.

Crossing the Shannon southward we enter the county
of Kerry. Ballybunnion, which faces across to Loop
Head, is the terminus of the mono-rail line that runs
inland to Listowel. Kerry Head is a high promontory
greatly exposed to the ocean. Thence a low indented
coast leads past the deep-water pier at Fenit to Tralee,

32 MUNSTER

an important town at the head of the shallow Tralee
Bay.

Westward from Tralee stretches the most northern
of the great mountain promontories which lend such
grandeur to the scenery of Kerry and West Cork. The
origin and meaning of these has been touched on already
in the general description of the province, and is more
fully explained in the section devoted to Geology. The
Dingle promontory is joined to the main mass of the
land by a low depression filled with limestone ; a
rise of 100 ft. in the level of the sea would convert it
into an island. The northern shore of the promontory
is exceedingly varied, the leading features being the
long Castlegregory peninsula, where low limestone
reefs run far into the sea ; and the huge precipices
where Brandon drops into the ocean. The Blasket
Islands, off the end of the promontory, are high and
rugged, and are tenanted by a very primitive community.
The south shore includes two safe land-locked harbours
at Ventry and Dingle: on the shores of the latter
stands the town of Dingle, an important fashing
centre.

The upper end of Dingle Bay, which separates this
from the next mountain promontory, is shallow, almost
closed by sand-dunes, and much encumbered by sand-
banks : it is known as Castlemaine Harbour.

Next, repeating many of the features of the Dingle
promontory, a wilderness of mountains and lakes,
18 miles across and twice that in length, intervenes
between Dingle Bay and Kenmare river. A line of
railway runs down its northern shore through
Caherciveen to Valencia Harbour. Valencia Island,
which lies close inshore, is well known as the terminus

TOPOGRAPHY

33

of several of the transatlantic telegraph cables. From
Valencia a beautifully wild coast continues to the
entrance of the Kenmare river, which is not a river at
all, but a long, deep, tapering sea-inlet running in
through the mountains for about 27 miles. The town
of Sneem, and Parknasilla with its large hotel, stand on
its northern shore. At the head is Kenmare, a busy

Valencia Harbour, Co. Kerry

market town, and the terminus of a branch railway
from the main line to Killarney.

A third great mountain promontory now intervenes
between Kenmare river and Bantry Bay, filled with
high hills, and presenting a magnificent coast-line.
It terminates in Dursey Island. Half-way down its
northern shore we pass from Kerry into Cork. On
its southern shore, in Bantry Bay, sheltered behind
Bere Island, is Bere Haven, an important naval base.
m C

34 MUNSTER

At the head of Bantry Bay is Glengarriff, one of the
loveliest spots in Ireland, with wooded islands studding
the calm, deep water. The south shore of Bantry Bay
runs far out as a narrow mountainous promontory,"
with the deep, narrow inlet of Dunmanus Bay on its

Cork Harbour diagrammatic

Dotted areas = limestone troughs; shaded areas *= sandstone ridges

other side. Beyond that the land runs out again to
Mizen Head, the most southern point of the Irish main-
land. Thence an exceedingly broken coast runs east-
ward past Cape Clear (on Clear Island) away to Cork
Harbour. Bold headlands alternate with sheltered
inlets with little fishing towns nestling on their banks
The most conspicuous of the projections of the coast

TOPOGRAPHY

35

are Toe Head, Galley Head, Seven Heads, and the Old
Head of Kinsale. The most important port is Kinsale,
which has a large fishing industry. It lies near the
mouth of the Bandon river, and was formerly a forti-
fied harbour of importance : but the increased size of

Cork Harbour actual

modern ships has led to a transfer of much of its trade
to Cork and Queenstown (Cobh).

Cork Harbour, which is now reached, has already been
described as to its mode of origin on p. 8, and is further
referred to on p. 46. The main harbour, inside the
mile-wide entrance, is a considerable expanse of water,
with a deep channel through it. Queenstown (Cobh)
is boldly situated facing the entrance. Two channels cut

36 MUNSTER

through the ridge in which it stands, the .left-hand one
running up towards Midleton, the deeper right-hand one
continuing past Passage to a second expansion known as
Lough Mahon, which has muddy arms spreading far to
east and west. Thence ships pass in a north-westerly
direction up the narrow River Lee to Cork. Cork
Harbour and Queenstown (Cobh) derive much of their
importance from being a port of call for American
mail steamers. But the huge increase in size of modern
liners is beginning to tell against even this spacious
port, which is now considered by some captains as not
safe for the handling of their gigantic ships.

From Cork Harbour a less broken and less precipitous
coast runs on E.N.E. past Ballycotton Bay to the old
town of Youghal, situated at the mouth of the River
Blackwater. Just inside its mouth the estuary expands,
forming a safe harbour, and Youghal stands picturesquely
on the steep western bank. The Blackwater is tidal and
forms a useful waterway as far as Cappoquin, 15 miles to
the northward.

In crossing the Blackwater we pass from Co. Cork
into Co. Waterford, which possesses a varied coast-line.
A bold shore runs from Youghal to Dungarvan Harbour,
a rather large shallow bay with its upper part almost
cut off by a straight spit of sand which extends from the
southern shore nearly to the town of Dungarvan on the
opposite side. Eastward, a stretch of coast, boldly pre-
cipitous in places, brings us to Tramore Bay, broad
and sandy, with the watering-place of Tramore at its
western end.. As at Dungarvan, the inner part of the
bay is almost cut off by a long sand-spit, in this case
much broader and more mature.
A few miles further on we reach the broad entrance

TOPOGRAPHY 37

of Waterford Haven. The River Barrow, coming
from the north, already joined by the Nore, meets the
River Suir, coming from the west, at a point 10 miles
from the sea, and the combined streams flow southward
through a wide, deep estuary into the Atlantic. The
important port and railway centre of Waterford stands
on the south bank of the Suir, about 6 miles above
its junction with the Barrow. The Suir is tidal as far
as Carrick-on-Suir, and is used as a waterway ; and the
Barrow is tidal as far as St Mullins, in Co. Carlow, whence
the river is canalised for a great part of its length, and
eventually joins the main line of the Grand Canal some
20 miles from Dublin.

Waterford Haven divides Munster from Leinster,
so our coastal survey terminates here.

The interesting Aran Islands, lying in Galway Bay
between Clare and Connemara, belong politically to
Galway, and are referred to in the Connaught volume
of this series. South of them, no island of importance
is met with till we reach the Blaskets, which form
the seaward prolongation of the mountainous Dingle
promontory, and are themselves almost mountains in
height. The Great Blasket, much the largest of the
group and the only one which is inhabited, is a
narrow ridge like a knife-edge, 4 miles long and nearly
1000 ft. high. At its eastern extremity, where a little
shelter is available, a colony of houses clings to the
steep slope, surrounded by a patch of cultivation.
On the most westerly of the group, the Tearaght, a light-
house stands. Some 20 miles to the southward, off
Bolus Head, two lovely pinnacled rocks, the Skelligs,
rise many hundreds of feet into the air. Another out-
lying rock familiar to those who go down to the sea in

3 8 MUNSTER

ships is the Fastnet, lying off Cape Clear. Inshore are
many larger islands, mostly wild and cliff-bound, though
less romantic than the distant lighthouse-guarded rocks
just mentioned. Valencia Island, Bere Island, and Clear
Island are the most important. On the East Cork and
Waterford coasts islands are very few and small.

COUNTIES AND TOWNS

Six counties are included within the province ; several
of these are of exceptional size, so that Munster has an
area of 9536 square miles an area larger than that of
Leinster with its twelve counties, or Ulster with its
nine.

Area in Square Miles. Population.

Kerry . . . 1,853 iSQ^Q 1

Cork .... 2,890 392,104

Waterford ... 721 83,966

Tipperary . . . 1,660 152,433

Limerick . . . 1,064 143,069

Clare .... 1,348 104,232

T tal ' '

Of these, Tipperary alone lies entirely inland. Limerick
along the greater part of its northern edge borders the
broad Shannon estuary ; the remaining four counties
present an extended and much indented front to the
ocean.

Co. Kerry

The wildest and most diversified county in Ireland,
on account of its long, fiord-like sea-inlets, its high
mountain ranges, and its beautiful lakes and woods.

TOPOGRAPHY 39

The area from Killarney north to the Shannon is alone
rather dull, as the high ribs of sandstone and slate which
produce the bold features of the rest of the county are
here replaced by softer shales, 'which weather into
low, bog-smothered hills. The rivers of Kerry are short
and rapid, and among the mountains small lakes and
tarns are numerous.

Tralee (10,300), the county town, is situated at the
shallow head of a bay far to the westward. The small
stream on which it stands has been widened and deepened
to allow *of the passage of coasting craft to the town,
but larger vessels berth at Fenit, a few miles westward.
Killorglin (7443) is an important marketing centre.
Dingle (1884), the most westerly town in Europe, lies
in a sheltered bay near the extremity of the mountain-
ous Dingle Peninsula. Killarney (5976) is inland, near
the beautiful lakes of the same name, with wild moun-
tains to the west and south and low, boggy uplands
to the north. Kenmare (1034) is beautifully situated
at the head of the noble sea-inlet known as Kenmare
river : steamers berth a short distance below the town.
Castleisland (1333) and Listowel (3409) lie in the less
picturesque country to the north.

The famous Lakes of Killarney lie at the eastern
end of Macgillicuddy's Reeks, the loftiest mountain
range in Ireland. They consist of a tolerably large
sheet of water, the Lower Lake or Lough Leane, the
small and scarcely distinct Muckross Lake, and another
small and very irregular sheet of water, the Upper
Lake; the last lies among high hills, and is connected
with the others by a broad slow stream, the Long
Reach. Different agencies have been at work in the
production of these lakes. The Lower Lake and

40 MUNSTER >

Muckross Lake lie on the limestone where it abuts on
the older non-soluble slates which form the Reeks

just as the Corrib-Mask-Conn chain of lakes lies on the
edge of the Central Plain where it rests against the old
rocks of Connemara and West Mayo. The eastern

Tore Waterfall, Killarney

42 MUNSTER*

shores of the Lower Lake, where the limestone prevails,
are low and deeply indented, while the western shore,
formed of slates, is steep and straight. The Lower
Lake owes its origin chiefly to solution, the limestone
having been dissolved in the irregular manner character-
istic of such action. The Upper Lake is quite different
in character, with shores formed of smoother and
rounder ribs of rock which plunge into deep water.
Its basin is the result of the scooping action of land
ice during the Glacial Period. The presence of the
towering summits of the Reeks immediately to the west
produces much shelter from wind, and also a heavy
rainfall ; the position of Killarney relative to the
Atlantic, which surrounds Kerry on three sides, tends
to remarkable mildness of climate. Hence we find in
this area beautiful woods which harbour plants and
animals belonging to regions far southward to Spain
and the Mediterranean ; and hence also we find there a
wonderful luxuriance of ferns and mosses, and other
plants which love continual moisture.

Co. Cork

The largest county in Ireland, and of very diversified
surface. In the east and north are expanses of typical
Central Plain country gently undulating limestone
pastures. These are interrupted by east-and-west
ridges of sandstones and slates, with picturesque river
valleys between. As we pass westward these ridges
increase in height and width, till in Western Cork they
occupy the whole surface, producing wild and beautiful
mountain scenery which continues and develops further
in Kerry. The coast-line, as in Kerry, is exceedingly
broken, with long and deep sea-inlets in the west.

J

44 MUNSTER

Cork (76,673), the capital of the province, lies among
cultivated hills where the east-and-west valley of the
Lee dips below sea-level. It is a busy port and railway
centre. The railway from Dublin, dropping steeply
into the valley (see p. 26), reaches the station through a

Grand Parade, Cork

long tunnel, and runs on to Queenstown (Cobh) and
Youghal. Further west, the Cork, Bandon, and South
Coast Railway has its terminus : it serves a large area,
penetrating to .the Kerry border. A loop line now con-
nects these two systems. A shorter line runs to Macroom.
The port accommodates steamers of considerable ton-
nage, but the largest boats lie in the open water of Cork
Harbour, some miles down. The city had its origin
as a fortified post of the Danes on a small island in the

46 MUNSTER

Lee ; following on the ecclesiastical settlement founded
there by St Fin Barre in the seventh century. It has
spread far beyond these narrow confines, and in some
parts has climbed up the steep hills that rise over the
river, so that the houses rise tier above tier. The
appearance of the principal street is bright and busy,
and many of the public buildings are good.

Cork Harbour is an extremely irregular arm of
the sea with a narrow entrance, 12 miles in length
from Cork city to the open sea. It represents the
sunken continuation of the Lee valley, and really con-
sists of two drowned limestone troughs lying between
three east-and-west ridges of slate, through which
north-and-south passages have been cut by rivers.
The first of these ridges rises along the northern edge
of the area, by Cork and Midleton ; the second across
the centre, forming Great Island, on which stands the
important port of Queenstown (Cobh) (8209) '> an ^
the third across the mouth, where the twin forts are
perched high above the sea. Its structure is illustrated
on pp. 34, 35. Youghal (5648) is a fishing port and
summer resort at the mouth of the Blackwater, in the
extreme east. Kinsale (4020), Clonakilty (2961), Skib-
bereen (3021), and Bantry (3159) lie on the western
coast. Inland, Dunmanway (1619) and Bandon (3122)
are on the Bandon river, and Macroom (2717) on the
Lee. Along the picturesque valley of the Blackwater
are Kanturk (1518), Mallow (4452) (an important
railway junction) and Fermoy (6863). Northward,
in the more level limestone country, are Buttevant
(1754) and Charleville (1925). Mitchelstown (2268)
is in the north-east, at the southern base of the Galtee
mountains.

48 MUNSTER

Co. Waterford

A fertile and picturesque area. The River Suir
forms much of the northern boundary, and the Black-
water traverses the eastern part of the county. Much
of the centre and east is occupied by the lofty ridges
of the Comeragh (2597 ft.) and Knockmealdown
(2609 ft.) mountains. The coast-line is extensive, and
often cliff-bound. On the eastern edge, the spacious
inlet of Waterford Haven forms the estuary of the Suir,
Barrow, and Nore. The western limit of the coast is
the smaller inlet of Youghal Harbour, through which
the Blackwater reaches the ocean.

Waterford (27,464) is one of the foremost cities and
ports in the southern half of Ireland. It stands on the
southern bank of the Suir, 6 miles above the point
where that stream joins the Barrow and 17 miles
from the open sea. It has a considerable export trade,
and is a railway centre of increasing importance. Part
of the town, including the railway station, lies on the
north or Kilkenny side of the river, across which a new
ferro-concrete bridge has recently replaced the old
wooden toll bridge. Portlaw (947) stands near the
Suir ; Dungarvan (4977) is at the head of the shallow
Dungarvan Harbour ; Lismore (1474) and Cappoquin
(1069) are beautifully situated on the Blackwater.
Tramore (1644), on the open sea 7 miles south of
Waterford, is a much-frequented watering-place.

Co. Tipperary

A very large county, lying entirely inland, and much
diversified by groups of mountains the Silvermines
and Devil's Bit groups in the north, the loftier Galtees
(3016 ft.) and Knockmealdowns (2609 ft.), and the

1

I

o

50 MUNSTER

fine, isolated Slievenaman (2564 ft.) 3 in the south. Else-
where the surface is of the type characteristic of the
Central Plain slightly undulating limestone country,
mostly in permanent pasture. The " Golden Vale of
Tipperary," famed for its fertility, stretches from

The Old Quay, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary

Fethard westward by Cashel and Tipperary town to
Kilmallock. Except for Lough Derg on the Shannon,
which flows along the north-western edge of the county'
lakes are almost absent. The county is drained by
tributaries of the Shannon in the north and by the Suir
in the centre and south.

Clonmel (10,209), tne chief town, is beautifully situated
on the Suir. Lower down the same river is Carrick-
on-Suir (5235), and further up are Caher (1930) and

TOPOGRAPHY 51

Thurles (4549). Cashel (2813), famous for its ecclesi-
astical ruins, Tipperary (6645), and Fethard (1473)
also lie towards the centre ; Nenagh (4776), Roscrea
2182), and Templemore (1791) in the north.

Co. Limerick

The whole northern boundary of Co. Limerick is
formed by the Shannon, mostly by its broad, lake-like
estuary " The spacious Shenan spreading like a sea,"
as Spenser describes it. The greater part of the area,
particularly the north, is low, with extensive limestone
pasture-lands. Round the other three sides west, south,
and north the county is fringed with hills, which attain
their greatest elevation in the south-east, where the
boundary passes over the summit of Galtymore (3015 ft.).
As a result of this grouping of the higher grounds, the
drainage of the county is all northward across the plain
to the Shannon.

Limerick (38,518), a very ancient city, stands on the
Shannon at the point where the river becomes tidal,
on the site of an important ford ; the original Luimneach
or Limnagh stood on King's Island, guarding the ford,
and itself safe from sudden attack. In the eighteenth
century, before the construction of railways diverted
the lines of traffic, this was a very busy town and port ;
but, like many of the western towns,

" Limerick prodigious,
That stands with, quays and bridges,
And the ships up to the windys
Of the Shannon shore,"

has now somewhat declined in relative importance;
but it is still a busy place well supplied with railways,
and the distributing centre for a very large district.

52 MUNSTER

There is a steamer service down the Shannon to its
mouth. The other towns within the county are. much
smaller : Rathkeale (1705) and Newcastle (2585), both
lying towards the west, are the most important.

Co. Glare

For nearly three-quarters of its periphery Clare is
bordered by water by the Atlantic along its extended
western side, and by the Shannon and its great estuary
on the east and south. The Atlantic coast is bare and
mostly cliff-bound, with no shelter for ships between
Galway Bay and the Shannon. In the north, the
strange, bare limestone hills of Burren, already described
(p. 18), overlook the ocean ; and these naked lime-
stones continue into the centre of the county, where
there are many low-lying lakes. Coal-measures, forming
bleak, treeless hills, cover much of the west ; the centre
is a low-lying plain of limestone ; the east is fertile,
and pleasantly diversified with woods and lakes, valleys
and hills the last rising to 1746 ft. in Slieve Ber-
nagh, where the county fronts Lough Derg. The Aran
Islands, lying across the entrance of Galway Bay, belong
geologically to Clare, being shelves of limestone rock
forming a continuation of the limestone beds of Burren ;
but politically they belong to Co. Galway, and are dealt
with in the Connaught volume of this series.

Ennis, the assize town (5472), stands on the low ground
in the centre of the county, on the River Fergus, above
the head of its broad, shallow, island-studded estuary.
Kilrush (3666) is on the Shannon estuary near its mouth ;
a few miles to the west, Kilkee (1688), a favourite seaside
resort, faces the open Atlantic. Killaloe (821) is beauti-
fully placed on the Shannon at the foot of Lough Derg,

GEOLOGY 53

where the river plunges through the interesting gorge
referred to on p. 19. It was an important ecclesiastical
centre in old days. Ennistymon (1204) and Miltown
Malbay (995) are close to the west coast ; Lisdoonvarna
(249), towards the north, has mineral springs, and is
a well-known health resort.

GEOLOGY

THE rock formations which are met with in Munster
belong to the Palaeozoic Group. They comprise the
following systems, which are arranged in age order,
the oldest being below :

Carboniferous.

Old Red Sandstone.

Silurian.

Ordovician.

In the earliest or Ordovician period a sea with islands
scattered over it occupied the British area. Near the
shores sands and muds accumulated to form sandstones
and shales. In the clearer waters shell-fish of obsolete
types abounded, and from their dead shells were formed
bands of limestones. Corals, too, were present in this
sea, which goes to prove that our islands were then bathed
by warmer waters than those which surround them
to-day.

Great volcanic activity prevailed at this time. In
Wales and Cumberland, in counties Dublin and Kildare
volcanoes existed. In Waterford we have a grand
series of volcanic rocks which burst their way through
the sea-floor and mingled their lavas and ashes with

54 MUNSTER

the sands and muds, causing destruction among the
shell-fish and coral polyps. Slates of Ordovician age
are found in the vicinity of Waterford.

The Silurian period was a more peaceful time here
and in the British area generally, but in the Dingle
peninsula the final struggles of these plutonic forces
were enacted. At Clogher Head, and along the coast
north and south, the Atlantic has laid bare old lavas
and ashes that were poured out upon the bottom of
the sea. Now and again came paroxysmic eruptions
sufficient to blot out of existence the abundant animal
life of those waters, but it soon returned, and so we find
sediments again forming on top of an old lava flow. In
addition to this district already mentioned, Silurian rocks
are also found on the plateau between the Commeragh
mountains and Portlaw, in the district east of Slieve-
namann and in the region west of the Galtee moun-
tains. The highlands west and south of the Devil's
Bit reveal large areas of Silurian rocks, and we find
them abundantly displayed in the Arra and Silvermine
mountains 'in Tipperary and also in the Slieve Bernagh
and Slieve Aughty mountains west of the Shannon.
In all cases their exposure is due to the removal by
denudation of the Old Red Sandstone rocks which rested
upon them.

With the beginning of Old Red Sandstone times great
crustal movements took place- in N.W. Europe, and folds
were developed whose axes ran in a north-easterly
direction. The sea was thus excluded from the Irish
area, and from Britain north of the Bristol Channel.
Desert conditions appear to have prevailed on this con-
tinental land. Mountains were buried beneath their own
detritus, and sands accumulated on desert plains and in

GEOLOGY 55

delta, lake or estuary. Red oxide of iron is the character-
istic cementing material of most of these accumulations.
In the upper division of the Old Red Sandstone rocks
are yellow sandstones. These in the vicinity of Cork
and at Ballyhale, near Waterford, yield plant remains
possessing a fern-like foliage which were washed down
and embedded in the fine-grained sands.

The mountains and hills of the south of Ireland are
for the most part carved out of Old Red Sandstone
rocks. In Co. Cork they rise towards the west, until
in the moorland on the confines of Kerry west of Gougane-
barra they attain a height of over 1500 ft. Farther west
in Kerry are moorlands still higher. The finest groups,
however, of these Old Red Sandstone mountains lie
in the region of the Macgillicuddy's Reeks, and here Carn
Tual rises to 3414 ft., the loftiest point in the island.

Passing towards the east are the Mangerton range,
the Paps, Boggeragh and Nagles mountains, all carved
out of this red rock. North of Lismore are the Knock-
mealdowns with one dominating peak, whilst the Com-
er aghs form an Old Red Sandstone plateau with a
steep escarpment on the eastern side, indented at
intervals by river valleys, at the heads of which are
often found basin-shaped hollows or cirques. North
of the Knockmealdowns are the Galtees. Here the
weathering of the horizontally-bedded sandstones has
formed the flat-topped Galteemore. Slievenamuck,
north of this, leads on to another exposure of these
rocks around the Silurian high land, which occupies
most of the north-west of Co. Tipperary. On the east
of this highland is the Devil's Bit mountain, so called
because of the notch from which the Old Red Sandstone
has been entirely removed (possibly by a river in the

56 MUNSTER

latter part of the glacial period), thus making the hill
to the south an outlier of the main sandstone mass to
the north. The highest point in the Silvermines is
composed of Old Red Sandstone; and Keeper Hill is
capped by an outlier of this rock. It also occurs in the
Arra mountains on the east of the Shannon and in the
Slieve Bernagh range in Clare. Farther north a large
development of this formation is found in the Slieve
Aughty range. In every case the appearance of Old
Red Sandstone rocks is due to the weathering of the
Carboniferous rocks by which they were originally
covered throughout the whole area.

Volcanic rocks of this period consisting of lavas and
ashes are met with at Loo Bridge and south of Lough
Guitane in Kerry. A little to the south of Limerick
is Knockfeerina Hill, which was an old volcanic vent
in the latter part of this period.

The Carboniferous Period was heralded in by a gradual
sinking of the land surface. The depression probably
set in from the south, but finally the sea extended until
practically the whole of the country was covered. An
old shore line may have existed somewhere among the
highlands of Donegal and Mayo, and part of the Leinster
chain, the granite of which by this time had been
largely denuded of its shaly covering, remained as land
for a time, for pebbles of granite are found in the
limestone near Dublin.

This sea stretched eastwards through England into
the heart of Europe. In it oozes were formed, partly
from remains of animals like sea-lilies, which were in-
vested with a skeleton composed of calcareous plates.
Shell-fish, too, were numerous, and in the vicinity of the
shores or upon shoals, corals multiplied and added their

GEOLOGY 57

share in the formation of the massive limestones which
we find so widely developed throughout the country.

After a lapse of time the mouths of the rivers
which entered this sea became silted up; large deltas
of sand were formed which stretched out into it
as that of the Mississippi does now into the Gulf of
Mexico.

In course of time forests grew upon the newly-formed
land. The vegetation in these was composed of many
strange types. Club mosses, represented to-day by
lowly plants found in bogs, grew into tall trees.
Likewise did the calamites, which grow in swampy
places and were somewhat like our horse-tails. Tree
ferns and cycads, reminding us of tropical vegeta-
tion, were abundant in the lowlands, while pines clothed
the sides of the mountains. These forests flourished
and decayed, and, as the ground upon which they grew
sank beneath the sea, were covered by sand and
clay. Other deltas were afterwards formed on the
same spot and forests again occupied them, to be
buried in their turn by the next depression. Thus
many coal seams separated by beds of sandstones
or shale were formed in succession at the same place.
To the whole series of these rocks the general name of
Coal Measures has been given. It is difficult to find at
the present time anything to which we may compare
these old forests, though perhaps in the mangrove
swamps of Florida we may get a dim idea of the
conditions prevailing in the latter part of the Car-
boniferous period.

Around Limerick and extending south-eastwards for
some 20 miles is a large area in which is displayed
abundant evidence of volcanic activity during Car-

58 MUNSTER

boniferous times. The lavas and ashes have resisted the
action of the weather better than the limestone which
envelops them, and thus they form a series of low hills
which are rendered conspicuous because of the flatness of
the surrounding country. The old castle of Carrigogunnel,
5 miles west of the city, stands on one of these igneous
masses. Caherconlish is another large exposure, whilst
about Pallas Grean and Herbertstown they are developed
in an almost continuous zone.

The Carboniferous rocks may be divided into four
groups. Given in order, the earliest being below, they
are :

Coal Measures.

Millstone Grit.

Limestone.

Shale.

The Shale is found commonly at the sides of the valleys
in the south of Ireland, and generally as a thin band
surrounding the exposures of Old Red Sandstone. In
the south of Cork is a large area of Carboniferous Slate
which represents a much longer epoch than that in which
the Lower Limestone Shale of the rest of the country
was formed. With the slates are associated the " Coom-
hola Grits " which are found well developed on Shehy
mountain north-west of Dunmanway.

Limestone occupies the valleys from that of Cloyne
northwards. Tongues of this rock extending from the
Central Plain envelop the Galtees, one pushing through
by Charleville to Mallow, the other reaching round
by Caher and Mitchelstown. Six miles east of this latter
place are the well-known caves. These were formed
by the solution of the limestone, and in them are many

GEOLOGY 59

beautiful columns made by the coalescence of stalactites
suspended from the roof with stalagmites formed on
the floor below.

("> In the northern part of Clare the magnificent terraced
mountains of the Burren are carved out of horizontally

Stalactite- Stalagmite Pillar in Cave six miles E. of
Mitchelstown, Co. Cork

bedded limestone. This rock is also exposed in a band
some 12 miles wide running south through and to the
east of Ennis and reaching the Shannon.

South and west of the limestone area are large ex-
posures of Carboniferous sandstone. Perhaps the most
striking of these is to be found in the long range of the
cliffs of Moher. These vertical cliffs of horizontally

6o MUNSTER

bedded sandstone are perhaps the finest in the British
Isles. At the northern end, near O'Brien's Tower, one
may lie on the edge of the cliff and drop a pebble
into the Atlantic 600 ft. below. At Kilkee we have also
magnificent cliff scenery, and here some of the surfaces
of the sandstones exhibit excellent examples of ripple
marks.

Limestone Terraces, Co. Clare

Coal Measures strata are found in North-west Cork,
North-east Kerry, and South Clare, whilst in Tipperary
there is a small exposure of them about 10 miles south-
east of Thurles. These areas are surrounded by rocks
of the Millstone Grit series.

After the Coal Measures were formed a great uplift
accompanied by folding took place in the north-west
of Europe. Our area was greatly affected by this,

GEOLOGY

61

and the present trend of river valley and upland ridge
so conspicuous in the physical features of Munster are
due to the unequal denudation of the hard rocks exposed
in the crests of the folds and the weaker ones which still
remain in the troughs.

A long extended period of denudation now followed,

The Cliffs at Kilkee, Co. Clare

and the Coal Measures that occupied large areas were
eventually removed from most of the province.

Very little is known of the subsequent history between
this post-Carboniferous upheaval and Glacial times.
It is probable, however, that the sea did cover the area
during a part of this wide interval and that newer
deposits than the Carboniferous rocks were laid down,
but of these not the slightest trace remains, All we

62 MUNSTER

know is, thai before the advent of Glacial times the main
features of the- topography were much as they are
to-day.

One of the most noticeable features of the river
system of Cork is the sharp right-angled bend which
occurs in each of the three rivers Blackwater, Lee,
and Bandon in the lower portion of their courses, and
the steep-sided gorges through which they have each
cut a passage to the sea.

The Blackwater, after bending south at Cappoquin,
enters a deep ravine, the sides of which rise to between
300 and 400 ft. Now if a dam 80 ft. high were formed
across the river at Dromana, it would, after forming a
lake about Cappoquin, make its way to the sea at
Dungarvan. Similarly if the east and west passages
of the Lee were blocked the river would go along by
Midleton to Ballycottin Bay. The Bandon too, under
similar circumstances, would find an outlet by the
Owenboy valley and enter the sea at Cork Harbour by
Carrigaline.

It is evident that the carving of these gorges was begun
before the valleys behind had been reduced to anything
like their present levels.

Let us now consider events in the light of a theory
proposed by Professor Jukes as far back as 1862.

After the formation of the Coal Measures the whole
of Munster was affected by forces which elevated the
crust and produced folds in the rocks. The new land
thus formed was subjected to denudation by the sea, and
most of cfur coal supplies were removed, leaving a gently
sloping surface of limestone through which here and there
the Old Red Sandstone rocks made their appearance

GEOLOGY 63

in the crests of the folds or anticlines where the limestone
had been eaten through. Eventually after another uplift
a series of rivers flowed down this sloping surface towards
the south. The Brinny brook continued its way along the
lower course of the Bandon, the stream of the Glanmire
valley came down by Passage West, and the Owenacurra
flowed past Midleton and by Passage East and effected
a junction with it somewhere in Cork Harbour, the con-
fluent waters going through the harbour entrance to the
sea, whilst in the case of the Blackwater the youthful
ravines of Dromana and Carnglass formed the channel
for a river flowing from the Knockmealdowns.

Continued denudation in the course of time laid bare
the sandstone all along the anticlines of the east and west
folds, and since the sandstone was more resistant than
the limestone which remained in the synclines, the east
and west tributary valleys were carved out of the latter
rock, which yielded so readily to solution by water con-
taining carbonic acid gas. The western tributaries of
the streams increased more rapidly than those flowing
from the east, for the slope of the land was in their favour,
the higher ground being in the west ; and thus it comes
about that the original western tributaries now form
the main portions of the present-day rivers.

Near Killaloe the Shannon passes through a gorge,
the banks of which run up to elevations of 1746 ft.
on the western side and 1517 ft. on the eastern, whilst
the bed of the river is only 108 ft. above sea level. It
is quite certain that the limestone of the plain north of
this was much higher than either the Slieve Bernagh
or the Arra mountains when the Shannon began its
life-work ; and that it had power to carve through the
more resistant sandstone rocks as rapidly as the lowering

64 MUNSTER

of the limestone plain to the north was affected by
denudation.

The same reasoning can be applied to the Suir, which
leaves the limestone plain and goes through a gorge
with sides 250 ft. in height near the city of Waterford.

THE GLACIAL PERIOD

At the beginning of this period the sea stood at
approximately the same level as now. The annual
snowfall was greater than the heat of summer could
melt, and hence an ice-sheet was formed. This ice-sheet
appeared much earlier in the north than in the south.
Gradually, however, invasions of ice from the great
Central Plain and of Irish Sea ice took place, the former
finding a way at first through the passes of the hills,
but afterwards mounting and overtopping most of them,
the latter occupying and riding over the country along the
coasts of Waterford and Cork. The highlands of Kerry
nursed their own glaciers and these were pushed out
in all directions, and finally joined the northern and
eastern sheets.

In Cork the striations on the rocks run east-south-east,
and these, taken in conjunction with other glacial data,
indicate an ice movement in that direction. The sea to
the south was probably occupied by ice, else we should
expect to find that tongues of ice escaped through such
openings as Cork Harbour, but of this there is no evidence.

In Clare the main ice-stream seems to have come
from Galway, for boulders of Galway granite are found
in the boulder clay of many different localities in this
county.

On the shrinkage of the Irish Sea ice, the Cork ice-
sheet advanced, and we find south of Youghal red boulder

GEOLOGY 65

clay overlying the marly marine deposit, showing that
there were no intervening interglacial deposits in this
district.

The glaciation of the south was of much shorter
duration than that of the country farther north. This
is not to be wondered at, for Munster appears to have

Roche moutonnee at Loo Bridge, Co. Kerry

lain just inside the margin of the British ice-sheets,
and in this connection it may be borne in mind that signs
of glaciation are not found in the adjoining island
farther south than Bristol and the Thames valley.

The hills in south-east Cork thus emerged at an earlier
period than did those of the west, and upon the newly
bared surface a copious land drainage was soon estab-
lished. Glaciers still occupied the valleys however,
m E

66 MUNSTER

and it is to rivers that flowed along the sides of these
glaciers that we owe the stratified gravels so common
in the Lee valley and elsewhere.

In some cases the earlier courses of the streams
were blocked up either with ice or drift, and the diverted
streams cut new channels which are now either dry
or supplied by insignificant streams.

The time immediately following the Glacial period
was one of severe winters, when snows accumulated,
giving rise to heavy floods in spring. Under these con-
ditions the sharp V-shaped north and south transverse
gorges were excavated, and the materials removed from
them were spread out in the form of fans where these
gorges open out on the broader eastward valleys. The
main rivers, too, carried considerably more water than
they do now, and thus they were able to bring down
the gravels that are found in such quantity in the lower
reaches of the valleys.

As milder conditions came on the glaciers diminished
in size and in length. They retreated up the valleys,
but this retreat was interrupted repeatedly by periods
of rest. These periods are marked by morainic mounds
which stretch across the valleys from side to side. In
some instances most of the materials of these moraines
have been removed by the river and only scattered
mounds indicate their former extension. A fine example
of a moraine on a small scale is to be seen in the Gap
of Dunloe, west of Killarney. Here the large lateral
moraine of the east side of the Gap joins up with the
terminal moraine lower down, thus forming a horse-
shoe embankment in the valley.

Moraines are found in most of the valleys in the
Macgillicuddy Reeks district. About Killarney, and in

GEOLOGY 67

the valley east of this around Lough Guitane, are fine
examples, while another fairly well preserved one
occurs in the Sheen valley south of Kenmare.

One of the most striking features of a recently
glaciated country is the abundance of its lakes. These
are formed in various ways. Sometimes they are
excavated rock basins filled with water, as in Lough
Auger in the Gap of Dunloe ; in other cases they occupy
hollows between the surrounding mounds of drift,
as in Cork Lough ; or, again, a moraine may block up a
valley and a lake be formed behind. There are a very
large number of moraine-dammed lakes among the
Kerry hills, and the Lakes of Killarney themselves are
banked on the north by morainic material. In the
southern part of the Comeragh plateau are several lakes
of quite a different type, the most noted of these being
Lake Coumshingaun. Ascending one of the branches
of the Clodiach river we mount a series of moraines with
huge blocks of Old Red Sandstone scattered about upon
them. Behind the highest and last of these is the
lake itself, which is bounded on the farther side by a
semi-circular wall of cliff rising sheer from the water's
edge. This marks the spot where the remains of a
glacier sheltered during the latter part of the glacial
epoch. As milder conditions came on the ice melted and
formed a lake. This was fed by small streams from the
high land behind the cliff and eventually rose to the level
of the lowest part of the moraine dam, over which
it flowed and easily carved out a bed in the loosely
compacted embankment.

Many of these coom, corrie or cirque lakes are found in
the mountainous parts of Kerry. Facing the sea, on the
northern side of the Dingle peninsula are fine examples,

68 MUNSTER

whilst at the head of the Glenbeigh valley, near Cahersi-
veen is a series of seven the finest in the British Isles.

In Co. Cork are quite a number of instances of river
diversion. The Bride stream that entered the Lee
valley from the north by the Shandon Gap was blocked
by a stratified gravel deposit. This was probably formed
in a lake at a time when the Lee valley was occupied
by a glacier. After the ice had disappeared this lake
sought an outlet and formed the present ravine known
as Goulding's Glen, at the side of the main obstruction.
The river soon removed the gravels and cut deeply
into the sandstone. Another striking instance occurs
at Tattan's Gorse, about half-way between Watergrasshill
and Midleton. The stream flowing from the north was
blocked by ice or drift at Dooneen Bridge, and a new course
with steep sides 70 ft. high was cut out of sandstone
rock a little to the east, and through this the Leamlara
stream still flows. At Riverstown, in the Glanmire
valley, the Glashaboy stream has been diverted from
its original course by a bank of glacial gravel, and a
passage has been cut through the rock 60 ft. deep
and 200 to 300 yards long.

The stream that flows through the pass of Keimaneigh
could not have cut that famous gorge. More probably
it was rapidly cut out by flood waters consequent
upon the shrinkage of the ice.

Erratics are abundant, especially in the south-west of
Munster. These are blocks, often of great size, that have
been carried from their place of origin by ice. When
they occupy precarious positions they are termed perched
blocks. At Cloughlowrish Bridge, in Co. Waterford, is
an erratic of Old Red Sandstone resting upon an igneous
rock. Near Kenmare is another of sandstone resting

GEOLOGY

69

upon a limestone surface. The limestone has been
artificially cut away all round at a remote period, so
that the large erratic now rests on a slender pedestal.
On Knockbrack mountain are a large number of them,
and about Glengariff and westwards towards Adrigole
thev are perched in all kinds of positions.

Perched Block, Co. Kerry

At the end of the Mer de Glace, near Chamounix, are
rocks which present a smooth and polished surface
and on which striations are also observable. The
smoothing has been effected by the sand which the ice
contained in its base, and the striations are due to the
chiselling action of fragments of rocks held as in a vice
by the glacier as it moved forward.

70 MUNSTER

One of the surest forms of evidence concerning the
motion of glaciers is to be found in such smoothed
surfaces of rock upon which are striations more or less
deeply incised. Some of these begin as fine lines and
increase in thickness until they come to an abrupt
termination. In this case the striation becomes coarser
in the direction in which the glacier was moving.

Sometimes two or more sets of striations are observ-
able; in Cork and Kerry we have many examples of
this. Thus at the head of the Slaheny valley is a rock
surface with two distinct sets of striations and a third
somewhat less distinctly marked. The chief glaciation
has produced ridges and furrows running S. 33 E.,
while a later set of striations runs E. 10 S. These later
striations are found on only one side of the smoothed
ridges, and consequently we assume that the striated
side of the ridge was that opposed to the motion of the
latter glacier.

While, as already stated, the general course of the
glaciers in Cork was east-south-east, they nevertheless
followed valleys which deviated from this direction. Thus
a part of the glacier from the Roughty valley, east of
Kilgarvan, went N.E. towards Bally vourney, while an-
other part kept on down the valley of the Toon to
Macroom. The striations show that meanders of the
valleys were also followed fairly closely by the ice,
or that a differential movement existed in different
parts of the same ice mass.

The gravels have been already referred to as being
formed by floods consequent upon the breaking up of the
ice-sheet. They are found at different levels. The higher
ones were formed by the earlier floods at a time when
the hill-tops were stripped of ice, the lower ones later on

GEOLOGY 71

when ice occupied only the lower parts of the valleys.
Behind the village of Watergrasshill, at a height of
600 ft., are representatives of these earlier flood gravels,
while in the Lee valley, about Cork and also about
Midleton, are later deposits.

Eskers, or low winding ridges formed of water- worn

Glaciated rock surface, Co. Cork

and stratified material, are not developed in such fine
proportions in Munster as in King's County, Westmeath,
or Tyrone. A small one occurs at Dooheen Bridge,
5 miles south-west of Limerick, and another at Kenmare,
just below the Great Southern Railway Hotel. These
seem to have been formed where sub-glacial streams
heavily charged with sediment and flowing in ice tunnels
reached the quiet waters of a lake or estuary.

72 MUNSTER

The gravels which were spread out on the bottom of
the valleys by the floods during the time of recession
of the ice have since been cut into by the rivers, and
terraces have been formed marking the different succes-
sive flood levels. Good examples of these are seen in
the Lee valley at Inniscarra and Carrigrohane, six and

Terraces at Inniscarra on the River Lee

three miles respectively west of Cork. In these the
highest terraces give approximately the level of the old
gravel- covered plain. As the river deepened its bed new
flood terraces were formed at successively lower levels.

At many points along the southern coast-line from
Carnsore Point to Baltimore portions of an old shore-
line have been traced. Where well preserved, as at
Myrtleville, a little west of the entrance to Cork Harbour,

GEOLOGY 73

it consists of a tidal platform rising from present mean-
tide level on the outer edge to a few feet above high-
tide mark on the landward side. Upon this we get,
amongst other deposits, one of boulder clay.

Now if we consider that the gorges of the Lee at
Passage East and Passage West were formed by the
cutting action of the river when the land stood at a higher
level, we must admit, on the testimony of the raised
beaches, that a pre-glacial subsidence admitted the sea
to the lower parts of the rivers and formed those long
inlets or rias, examples of which we have in Waterford
and Cork Harbours and in the long inlets which form such
striking features of the coast-line of Cork and Kerry.
As this old beach corresponds with those on the opposite
side of St George's Channel, it is fair to assume that
Ireland was separated from England before the advent
of the glacial period, though during a part of this period
a land- connection may have been re-established. Be
that as it may, we have at the present time the sea
level very nearly restored to the old position which it
occupied before the coming of the ice age.

SOILS

The loose ice-borne material or drift, from which is
derived most of the soils of the cultivated lands, is
throughout most of the province similar to the debris
of the rocks upon which it rests, and thus there is little
difference between the derived soils in the two cases.
An exception occurs in the soils at the head of Bantry
Bay. These are greatly enriched by the limestone
boulder clay. A similar enrichment is found to follow
the presence of this type of boulder clay in the vicinity
of the Silurian hills of Tipperary, whilst the Vale of

74 MUNSTER

Aherlow and the Golden Vale of Limerick owe their
wealth of soil to the large proportion of limestone
and volcanic rocks in the mixed materials of the drifts
in those places.

In North Clare we have a large area of bare lime-
stone in which meteoric agencies have carved out the
magnificent natural terraces of the Burren. Drifts
occur in the valleys and are largely made up of lime-
stone detritus, with some pebbles and blocks of Galway
granite. Further south limestone blocks are associated
with sandstone and shale in the drift. ,

The drift covering about Listowel and Tralee Bay
is made up largely of limestone debris, but in the
centre of Kerry grits and shales are the principal
constituents.

In south-west Kerry moraines are common in the
gaps of the mountains, and in the vicinity of Killarney
the limestone is overspread with drift and moraines,
which are alike formed of grits and shales from the Old
Red Sandstone country to the south.

MINES, MINERALS, AND QUARRIES

In south-west Cork a number of veins of copper ore
have been found. The ore is chiefly Copper Pyrites
(CuFeS 2 ). In the past a large quantity of this ore
has been taken out, more particularly in the district
west of Berehaven. At Ross Island, Killarney, and at
Ardtully, in the Kenmare valley, copper mining has been
carried on. Other places extensively worked in the
past are Knockmahon and Bunmahon, west of Amies-
town, Co. Waterford. In Tipperary copper ore occurs
at Lackamore.

At Duneen Bay, near Clonakilty, there occurs a rich

GEOLOGY 75

vein of Barytes. This mineral is also found at Skull.
In both places the ore is worked.

Lead mines have been worked in the Silvermines
district, near Nenagh, also at Tulla in Clare and
at Rooska, near Bantry. Galena (PbS.) is the chief
ore.

Pyrolusite (MnO 2 ), has been obtained in the vicinity
of Glandore, Co. Cork, and the zinc ore, Calamine, occurs
in the Silvermines district, Co. Tipperary.

Limestone is used very largely as a building stone
all over the province. In the south it has been subj ected
to great earth-pressures and has developed cleavage.
This takes away from its value as a building stone.
Nevertheless stones of large size suitable for columns
have been quarried at Ballintemple, and these have been
employed in the building of the Courthouse and Savings
Bank in the city of Cork. As the stone weathers, the
fossils, so difficult to determine in freshly fractured
specimens, stand out in relief owing to their superior
hardness, and this gives it a delicate veined appearance
which adds greatly to the beauty of the stone.

Red marble is found at Little Island, Fermoy, Midleton
in Co. Cork, and Castleisland in Co. Kerry. The colour
is due to the infiltration of iron oxide. Good examples
of the use of Cork marbles in interior decoration can be
seen in St Finbarre's Cathedral and in the entrance hall
of the new Technical School, Cork ; and of Castleisland
marble in the Honan Chapel, University College. Grey
marble is found at Mitchelstown.

Limestone is burnt in many places, and the lime
obtained is used for building, whitewash, and agricul-
tural purposes. The old style of kiln is being super-
seded by one which has a larger " eye " or opening at

76 MUNSTER

the base, and this is directed so as to catch the prevailing
S.W. winds, instead of facing the east as in the older
types. The impurities in some of the limestones render
them more effective for agricultural purposes than as
a wash. Dolomitisation (the replacing of Calcium by
Magnesium) has occurred in some of the limestones
around Cork, and from this altered rock Magnesia was
formerly made. It is now extracted from sea water
at Little Island.

Coal Measures occur in N.W. Cork, N.E. Kerry,
W. Limerick, and S. Clare. The seams are anthracitic
but thin, and are of little commercial importance. A
more flourishing coal-field is that of Slieve Ardagh, in
Tipperary. This is worked, and has a yearly output of
eight thousand five hundred tons.

Owing to the extensive use of limestone in building
and the scarcity of good brick clays, the brick-making
industry is of less importance in the south than in the
north of Ireland. A stiff white clay occurs in places
over the limestone drift. Brick clay also occurs along
the River Fergus, and at Lis towel, Tralee, Newcastle
West, Limerick, Nenagh, and near Thurles, also at
Youghal, Monard, Belvelly, and Ballinphelic. At the
last named place red tiles, chimney-pots, and other articles
in earthenware were manufactured until quite recently.
The products were conveyed to Ballinhassig station,
4 miles distant, by trolleys running on an overhead
cable. Potter's clay is found near Killenaule, Co.
Tipperary, and at Youghal in addition to brick works is
a small pottery industry.

Some of the old slates formerly used in Cork were
obtained in the county, and at present some quarries are
being worked. At Killaloe and Portree, near Nenagh,

GEOLOGY 77

the output is much greater. The slate quarries near
Carrick-on-Suir yield a small supply.

In the absence of igneous rocks, which are poorly
represented in Munster except in the vicinity of Limerick,
limestone, sandstone, and slate are used as road metal.
Of these limestone and slate are used in the valleys and
sandstone on the higher ground. Partly on account of
their situation roads made from the latter rock are
better than those of the valleys. Bands of " Coomhola
Grit " occur in the Carboniferous shale series, and
these provide a better material than any of the
others.

Experiments on road metals have been conducted by
the Engineering Department at University College,
Cork. The instrument employed is a rattler or drum,
into which a certain weight of broken stone of standard
size as used on the roads is introduced, together with
a number of small cubical blocks of iron. These are
rotated for 50 minutes and the amount of debris, con-
sisting of chippings and dust, determined. In these tests
southern limestones come out badly, but some of the
Coomhola sandstones give much better results, and are
intermediate in quality between the limestones and
well-known igneous road metals, such as Penmanmawr
rock. One of the best of these grits is quarried at
Killeady, near Kinsale. Paving setts are made in the
Longstone quarries near Limerick, and these have
superseded those imported from Wales and Arklow,
which were formerly used in that city. Flags are
quarried at Doonagoore and other places in the county
of Clare. *

78 MUNSTER

BOTANY

THE province of Minister is much diversified as to
surface. As we pass southward out of the Central
Plain the continuity of the limestone which prevails
there is more and more broken up by high ridges run-
ning east and west or north-east and south-west. The
extensive folding which took place in post-Carboniferous
times, and subsequent denudation, have laid bare the
underlying Devonian and Silurian rocks, which now
form the hill-ranges, while on the lower grounds the
limestone still persists. We have thus the same broad
contrast which we find in Connaught the grassy plain
with a calcicole flora, and the heathery hills with a
calcifuge vegetation. In Clare and North Kerry there
are also large areas of Coal-measures resting on the
limestone, and usually supplying a heavy lime-free soil.
In the south-west, where great mountain-ribs, projecting
far into the Atlantic, alternate with deep troughs in
which the limestone still lingers, the mildness and damp-
ness which characterise the Irish climate reach their
maximum, and there is a remarkable fauna and
flora, characterised by the occurrence of many species,
chiefly plants, which find here their most northerly
known station. And mixed incongruously with these
we find, as elsewhere in Ireland, other species which
are of high northern distribution. The interesting
question as to the origin of these elements in the
flora and fauna 'has been touched on in the "Ire-
land" volume of this series, and need not be
reviewed here.

80 MUNSTER

Of the interesting group of species referred to in the
last paragraph the most conspicuous are certain flowering
plants, namely : Arbutus Unedo, the Strawberry -Tree
(found in the Killarney district, S.W. France, Pyrenees,
Mediterranean), Saxifraga umbrosa and 5. Geum
(S. to W. or N.W. Ireland, Pyrenean region), Pinguicula
grandiftora (S.W. Ireland, Pyrenean region, Alps),
Euphorbia hiberna (S. to N.W. Ireland, Devon, Pyrenean
region), Sibthorpia europcea (Kerry, S.W. England,
France, Spain, Portugal), Spiranthes Romanzoffiana
(Cork, N. Ireland, Kamtschatka, northern N. America),
Simethis bicolor (Kerry, Dorset, Spanish Peninsula
and West Mediterranean), Sisyrinchium 'angustifolium
(S.W. to N.W. Ireland, northern N. America), Eriocaulon
septangular e (S.W. to N.W. Ireland, Skye, N. America).
Nowhere else in Europe do we find such an interesting
and puzzling mixture of southern and northern plants
living together so far removed from their centre oi
distribution.

We may now consider in greater detail the flora of
some selected areas within the province.

Macgillicuddy's Reeks ""

" The Reeks " (ricks) are the finest as well as the
loftiest mountain range in Ireland. The highest point
(Carrantuohill) reaches 3414 ft., and along the main ridge
for several miles an elevation of over 3000 ft. is main-
tained. Composed of massive slates and sandstones of
Devonian age, the numerous lofty precipices are formed
of hard rock, suitable for plant life and safe for the
climber. A number of tarns lie among the hills, sur-
rounded by magnificent cirques. As elsewhere in
Ireland, the number of alpine plants which occur is

BOTANY

81

limited, and is not in proportion to the large amount
of suitable ground. The Highland type Phanerogams

Strawberry Tree (Arbutus Unedo) at the Upper Lake
of Killarney

of the range are Draba incana, Sedum roseum,
Saxifraga stellar is, Hieracium anglicum, Oxyria digyna,
m F

82 MUNSTER

Salix herbacea, Carex rigida. They are accompanied on
the high grounds by Armeria maritima and Cochlearia
alpina. Silene maritima occurs lower down, far from
the sea. The tarns yield Subularia aquatica, Elatine
hexandra, Lobelia Dortmanna, Sparganium minimum,
etc. Many of the interesting plants of the Kerry
lowlands creep up the flanks of the hills. Saxifraga
umbrosa is, as usual, found at all elevations. Lower
down we get S. Geum, S. hirsuta, Carum verticillatum,
Bartsia viscosa, Utricularia Bremii, Pinguicula grandi-
flora, Euphorbia hiberna,

The Killarney Lakes

The town of Killarney, and the large Lower Lake,
lie in an east-and-west limestone trough. Northward the
ground rises gently into low, boggy, barren hills formed
of Coal-measures, Southward the ground rises abruptly
from the very shore of the lake into the beautiful and
lofty mountains of Old Red Sandstone for which the
place is famous. The Upper Lake, which is small and
narrow, lies in a mountainous north-and-south valley
which penetrates into the hills. There is a striking
contrast of both scenery and flora the low limestones
with their grass, tillage, and calcicole plants on the one
hand, the high heathery hills on the other. The lime-
stone lies bare, often fantastically carved by water,
along the shores and islands of the Lower Lake. In
this area, in the woods, on the shores, or in the water,
we find :

Subularia aquatica R. Frangula

Elatine hexandra Rubia peregrina

Rhamnus catharticus Galium boreale

BOTANY 83

G. sylvestre Monotropa Hypopithys

Carum verticillatum Utricularia neglecta

Lobelia Dortmanna Cephalanthera ensifolia
Wahlenbergia hederacea Naias flexilis

Arbutus Unedo Carex Boenninghausiana

Microcala iiliformis Lastrea Thelypteris

Bartsia viscosa Isoetes lacustris

The Upper Lake and its neighbourhood, with its
dense woods, and reefs and cliffs of Old Red Sandstone,
harbours a calcifuge flora of very luxuriant growth,
the mildness and dampness of the climate being well
shown by the sheets of Filmy Ferns (Hymenophyllum
tunbridgense and H. unilatemle) which clothe the rocks
and tree-stems. These woods are the headquarters of
the Arbutus, perhaps the most interesting member
of the Killarney flora (but it grows also on the lime-
stone islands of the Lower Lake, as shown by the pre-
ceding list). It is accompanied here by Oak (Quercus),
Birch (Betula), Holly (Ilex), Mountain Ash, Pyrus
Aucuparia, etc. Most of the other interesting plants
of the Upper Lake occur on rocks or on the lake
shores :

Subularia aquatica Euphorbia hiberna

Elatine hexandra Juncus tenuis

Saxifraga umbrosa Asplenium Adiantum-
S. Geum nigrum, var. acutum

Pinguicula grandiflora Pilularia globulifera

Not far from the Killarney area the rare and hand-
some Sea Pea (Lathyrus maritimus] has its only Irish
station at Castlemaine Bay,

84 MUNSTER

Cork

The most striking feature of the botany of the
neighbourhood of Cork city is the number and profusion
of plants which have escaped from cultivation and are
now naturalised. Most of these are of South European
distribution. They include Sedum album, Centmnthus
ruber, Senecio squalidus and the hybrid 5. squalidusx
vulgaris (all abundant on walls), Hypericum hircinum
(Glanmire), Symphytum tuber osum (JBlackrock), Erinus
alpinus (Douglas, Blackrock, etc.), Linaria viscida
(Tivoli, etc.), Stratiotes aloides (Ballyphehane bog),
Barbarea prt&cox, Diplotaxis muralis, and Mercurialis
annua. Among the native plants, one of the most
interesting is the Irish Spurge, Euphorbia hiberna,
already referred to ; Geranium rotundifolium, Pim-
pinella magna, Rosa micrantha, Carduus nutans,
Orobanche Hederce, Ceratophyllum demersum, Festuca
sylvatica.

The Burren Limestones

The areas of bare limestone which form a character-
istic feature of certain tracts, especially in Clare and
Galway, harbour one of the most remarkable floras
to be found in Ireland. This formation and its accom-
panying vegetation attain their most striking expression
on the hills of the Burren district in northern Clare.
Here, over miles of hill and valley, nothing but bare
grey rock is to be seen, its innumerable joints worn
by weather into a criss-cross of deep fissures which
harbour a luxuriant vegetation. This naked ground
descends the hills, sweeping down on the southward
into central Clare, and on the north surrounding the head
of Galway Bay and fringing Lough Corrib and Lough

I

o

I

8

5

86 MUNSTER

Mask, only ceasing at Lough Carra in Mayo. Seaward
it occupies in most pronounced form the Aran Islands.
Its flora is distinct from that of any other tract in
Ireland, being remarkable both for the great abundance
of certain plants which usually are locally and sparingly
distributed, and for the occurrence, often also in great
profusion, of many rare plants, usually of distinctly
southern or northern type. A list of the abundant
species which immediately impress the eye, and one or
other of which in places form the bulk of the vegetation,
will include :

Arenaria verna Asperula cynanchica

Geranium sanguineum Arctostaphylos Uva-ursi

Rubus saxatilis Gentiana verna

Dryas octopetala Euphrasia Salisburgensis

Saxifraga hypnoides Sesleria coerulea

Rubia peregrina Scolopendrium vulgare

Galium sylvestre Ceterach ofncinarum

Among other species which are less widespread,
though many of them attain an abundant development
locally, are :

Helianthemum vineale Ajuga pyramidalis

Viola stagnina Taxus baccata

Spiraea Filipendula Juniperus nana

Potentilla fruticosa Spiranthes autumnalis

Saxifraga Sternbergii Epipactis atro-rubens

Galium boreale Ophrys muscifera

Pyrola media Neotinea intacta

Orobanche rubra Adiantum Capillus-Veneris

It will be observed that in spite of an extraordinary
mixture of types, the dominant note of this assemblage

BOTANY 87

is alpine- arctic. Sheets of the Dryas, Arctostaphylos,
Gentian, and Sesleria cover the ground, all descending
to sea-level, and this in a mild area where frost and snow
are very rare. Growing with these we find such southern
types as Neotinea intacta and Adiantum Capillus-
Veneris, neither of them known elsewhere from so high
a latitude, the first having its nearest station in the
Mediterranean, the other being a southern species of
very wide range. No such extraordinary assemblage
of plants is to be found elsewhere in the British Isles.

The Galtees

This fine mountain group, lying mostly in Tipperary,
rises to over 3000 ft. (Galtymore, 3015 ft.). They are
formed of Silurian and Devonian rocks, and on the
northern slope present a very impressive appearance,
with numerous lofty precipices overhanging deep tarns.
Botanical interest centres on these northern cliff-ranges.
Here Arabis petraa has one of its two Irish stations,
the other being in Glenade, in Co. Leitrim. Saxtfraga
umbrosa nourishes also, finding here its south-eastern
limit in Ireland. Other mountain plants which occur
are Meconopsis cambnca, CoMearia alpina, Sedum
rossum, Saxifraga stellaris, S. sponhemica, S. Stern-
bergii, Saussurea alpina, Hieracium anglicum, V ac-
tinium Vitis-Id&a, Oxyria digyna, Salix herbacea.
The profusion in which many of these grow on some of
the precipices, as on the cliffs over Lough Muskry,
compensates for the smallness of their number, and is
a striking feature of the botany of the range. The
flora of the waters of the lakes is, on the contrary,
exceedingly poor.

88 MUNSTER

The Shannon Estuary

The Shannon becomes tidal at Limerick, and, widen-
ing into a great estuary, enters the Atlantic 60 miles
further on, its mouth being 10 miles wide. The upper
reaches are river-like and muddy. Here Scirpus
triqueier grows in abundance, a very rare plant, un-
known elsewhere in Ireland, and in England found
only in three southern estuaries. It is accompanied
by Nasturtium sylvestre, CoMearia anglica, Typha an-
gustifolia (all very local in Ireland), Scirpus Taber-
ncemontani, S. maritimus and Phragmites communis.
The adjoining marshy meadows yield A Ilium vineale,
Leucofum astivum, Car&% riparia, Hordeum secalinum,
and other plants in abundance. The middle parts of
the estuary are island-studded, with gravelly or muddy
shores. Here we find quantities of Glyceria festucce-
formis, a Mediterranean grass elsewhere known only
from Co. Down, and G. Foucaudi, found elsewhere only
in S.E. England and France ; also such plants as
Apium gra-veolens, (Enanthe Lachenalii, Artemisia mari-
tima, Statice rariflora, Beta maritima. The lower part
of the estuary assumes the form of an open sea-inlet
with rocky and sandy shores, yielding Glaucium flavum,
Raphanus maritimus, Spergularia rupestris, Crithmum
maritimum, Euphorbia portlandica, and other species
of similar habitat.

Lough Derg

Lough Derg is the lower of the two great lake-like ex-
pansions of the Shannon, the other, Lough Ree, lying
further up the river. Save at its southern end, where
the lake is embosomed in hills of Silurian slate, the

BOTANY 89

winding shores are formed of low-lying limestones, and
the numerous islands are composed of the same rock.
Botanical interest centres on the low, uncultivated islets
and reefs, and on the sloping, stony shores. Here a
peculiar flora is developed, as the following list of
abundant plants will show :

Rhamnus catharticus Hieracium umbellatum

Hypericum perforatum Lysimachia vulgaris

Geranium sanguineum Samolus Valerandi

Rubus csesius Erythraea Centaur eum

Rosa spinosissima Chlora perfoliata

Parnassia palustris Gentiana Amarella

Viburnum Opulus Lycopus europ^us

Galium boreale Teucrium Scordium

Eupatorium cannabinum Juniperus communis

Solidago Virgaurea Schcenus nigricans

Ant enn aria dioica Sesleria coerulea

Carlina vulgaris Selaginella selaginoides
Cnicus pratensis

The rarest plant of the lake shores is Inula salicina,
which occurs in many places. Although this species
ranges widely in Europe and Asia, it is unknown else-
where in the British Isles. And other rare plants are the
American Sisyrinchium angustifolium, which grow in
several places, being abundant along the Woodford river.

Among bryologists, the name of Killarney is famous
as the home of a wonderfully rich moss flora, rich not
only in rare species, but on account of the delightful
profusion and luxuriance in which many of them grow.
The neighbourhood of Glengariff, lying in Co. Cork,
20 miles to the southward, and like Killarney a sheltered,

90 MUNSTER

richly-wooded spot, repeats in some degree the flora
of the former place, and when other portions of the
remarkably mild, damp valleys of Kerry and West Cork
come to be well explored, no doubt fresh stations for
many of the Killarney rarities will be found.

Among the most interesting mosses of this south-
western district (Kerry and Cork) are : Trichostomum
hibernicum (not known anywhere else), Daltonia splach-
noides (Co. Dublin is the only other station in the
British Isles), Leptodontium recurvifolium, Trichostomum
fragile, Barbula Hornschuchiana, Ulota Ludwigii, U.
calvescens, (Edipodium Griffithianum, Philonotis Wil-
soni (elsewhere in the British Isles in Merioneth
and Forfar only), P. rigida, P. seriata, Weber a Tozeri,
Ditrichum tortile, Campylopus Schimperi, C. Shawii
(elsewhere in the British Isles known from the Hebrides
alone), C. introflexus (unknown elsewhere in Ireland : in
Great Britain in N. Wales only), Dicranum flagellare,
Fissidens polyphyllus, Campylostelium saxicola, Bryum
affine, B. Mildeanum, Sematophyllum demissum (in
Ireland only here ; N. Wales ; Cumberland), S. micans
(also unknown elsewhere in Ireland ; in Great Britain
occurs in Cumberland and the West Highlands), and
Hypnum kamulosum.

The following may be mentioned also : Tortula gracilis
(Limerick), Dicranum schisti (S. Tipperary), Bryum
Duvalii (Waterford, only Irish station), the beautiful
Hookeria latevirens (confined in Great Britain to Kerry,
Cork, Waterford, and Cornwall, with a tropical range
abroad), and the calcicole Eurhynchium striatulum
(Kerry and Limerick).

The south-west of Ireland, and the county of Kerry

BOTANY 91

in particular, is the richest and most interesting ground
for hepatics to be found in the British Isles. This is
mainly the result of the extremely mild, moist conditions
which prevail there, and the rarest species which occur,
if they are found elsewhere at all, belong to countries
to the southward. Some of these are unknown else-
where : others are found nowhere else in the British
Isles ; many others, again, have here their only Irish
station. Some of the species range up the west coast,
and a few of these reappear in western Scotland. Some
of the rarest species occur in extraordinary abundance.

Among the greatest treasures of the district are : Cepha-
Lozia hibernica (Killainey only), Plagiochila ambagiosa
(Bantry), Lejeunea flava (Killarney), L. Holtii and L.
diversiloba (several Kerry stations), Radula Holtii and
Bazzania Pearsoni (Killarney and West Mayo). Other
species which find here their only Irish station are:
Lepidozia Pearsoni (Brandon Mountain), Fossombronia
Dumortieri (Farranfore), Anthoceros lams (Ventry),
Prionolobus Turneri (Bantry and Killarney), and
Madotheca Porella (Cork and Kerry, various stations).
The beautiful Scapania nimbosa is recorded from
Brandon in Kerry and Slievemore in Mayo.

Among many other very rare species which occur may
be mentioned Radula Carringtonii, R. valuta, Sca-
pania ornithopodioides, Mastigophora Woodsii, Pedino-
phyllum interruptum, Cephalozia leucantha, Lophocolea
fragrans, Leptoscyphus cuneifolius, Acrobolbus Wilsonii,
Haplomitrium Hookeri, Petalophyllum Ralfsii, Palla-
vicinia Lyellii, Dumortiera hirsuta. The profusion and
luxuriance of liverworts in the sheltered parts of Kerry
and West Cork is very remarkable, and is matched by
the profuse growth of mosses and of such ferns as the

g2 MUNSTER

Hymenophyllums, which clothe every rock and tree.
The remaining portions of Munster, while possessing a
varied flora, offer nothing to compare with that of the
south-west.

ZOOLOGY

KERRY now possesses the only remnant of the herds
of Red Deer (Cervus elaphus) that were once so wide-
spread in Ireland. The Otter (Lutra vulgaris), Badger
(Meles taxus), Fox (Canis vulpes), and Alpine Hare
(Lepus variabilis), are widely spread ; also the Irish
form of the Stoat (Putorius hibernicus). The Pine
Marten (Mustela martes) still occurs occasionally.
The Lesser Horse-shoe Bat ,(Rhinolophus hipposideros)
has in Kerry the southern limit of its restricted Irish
range, which extends thence to Galway. The Great
Grey Seal (Halichcerus grypus) is a familiar sight along
the wilder parts of the coast.

In Munster we find in the north extensive marshes,
lakes, and bogs, the breeding-place of many swimming
and wading birds. In South Tipperary and Waterford
there are high hills with cliff ranges, and cliffs again
on the Waterford coast. West Cork and Kerry offer
an alternation of wooded valleys and high heathery
mountains. The coast of Kerry is extremely broken,
with numerous outlying islands, a safe breeding-ground
for many species. It will thus be seen that the conditions
offered to bird-life are extremely varied.

Of the lakes, by far the most considerable is Lough
Derg on the Shannon, which lies mostly in Munster.
Its bays and islets support a large bird population in

ZOOLOGY

93

the breeding season, including Common Sandpipers,
Totanus- hypoleucus ; Redshanks, T. calidris ; Ringed
Plovers, Mgialitis hiaticola ; Common Terns, Sterna
fluviatilis ; Black-headed Gulls, Larus ridibundus ;
Lesser Black-backed Gulls, L. fuscus ; Red-breasted
Mergansers, Mergus serrator ; Tufted Ducks, Fuligula
cristata ; Shovellers, Spatula clypeata ; and Great
Crested Grebes, Podicipes cristatus. These species, in
greater or less number, constitute the fauna of most
of the lakes of the province.

On the mountains the Raven, Corvus cor ax ; Peregrine,
Falco peregrinus] and Merlin, F. c&salon, are familiar
residents ; Curlew, Numenius arquata, and Golden
Plover, Charadriifs pluvialis, nest on the lonely moors.
The Ring Ouzel, Turdus torquatus, and numbers of
Stonechats, Pratincola rubicola, and Wheatears, Saxicola
cenanthe, haunt the heaths ; and Grey Wagtails, Mota-
cilla melanope, and Dippers, Cinclus aquaticus, are
familiar denizens of the streams.

On lowland bogs the Lesser Black-backed Gull, Larus
fuscus, and Black-headed Gull, L. ridibundus, have large
colonies. The Nightjar, Caprimulgus europ&us, is more
abundant in Munster than elsewhere in Ireland. Among
the larger birds which have recently vanished, or are.
on the point of extinction, are the Golden Eagle, Aquila
chrysaetus (extinct), White-tailed Eagle, Haliaetus albicilla,
and Marsh Harrier, Circus ceruginosus. The Hen Harrier,
C. cyaneus, still breeds among the mountains.

On the coasts and rocky islands there are great
colonies of certain gregarious species : Guillemots,
Uria troile ; Razorbills, Alca tor da ; Puffins, Fratercula
arctica ; Kittiwakes, Rissa tridactyla, and so on.

In lesser numbers we find the Manx Shearwater,

94 MUNSTER

Puffinus anglorum (abundant on the Skelligs, rarer
elsewhere) ; Black Guillemot, U. grylle ; Chough,
Pyrrhocorax graculus (still abundant in remote places) ;
Hooded Crow, Corvus comix ; Storm Petrel, Procellaria
pelagica, which breeds in numbers on the Kerry coast.
One of the rarest breeders is Leach's Fork-tailed Petrel,
Oceanodroma leucorrhoa, of which a few eggs have been
obtained on the Blasket Islands. The noblest and
most interesting of the marine breeding birds of Munster
is the Gannet, Sula bassana. It nests in only four spots
in the British Isles, and of these two are situated off
the Munster coast the Bull Rock in Cork and the Little
Skellig in Kerry. On each rock there is a large colony.
The most recent accession to the list of breeding birds
is the Fulmar, Fulmarus glacialis, which has lately
established itself. The breeding of the Common Gull,
Icwus canus, is interesting, the Kerry colonies being the
most southern in Western Europe.

Among the inland breeding birds which haunt the
woodlands are the Blackcap, Silvia atricapilla; Garden
Warbler, S. hortensis (very local) ; Golden-crested
Wren, Regulus cristatus (common) ; Crossbill, Loxia
curvirostra (local) ; Siskin, Carduelis spinus ; Tree-
Creeper, Cerfkia familiaris ; Long-eared Owl, Asio
otus ; and Heron, Ardea cinerea. As elsewhere in
Ireland, the Woodcock, Scolo-pax rusticula, has largely
increased as a breeding species. Though the Turtle
Dove, Turtur commums, is frequently seen in summer,
the nest has not so far been discovered.

In winter the fauna of the fields and woods is swelled
by the arrival from the east of vast flocks of -such
birds as Song-Thrushes, Turdus musicus ; Blackbirds,
T. merula ; Fieldfares, T. pilaris ; Redwings, T. iliacus ;

ZOOLOGY 95

Starlings, Sturnus vulgaris ; Skylarks, Alan da arvensis ;
Meadow-Pipits, Anthus pratensis ; and Chaffinches,
Fringilla ccelebs.

Among the birds which are known to have spread or
to be spreading in the district are the Shoveller, Spatula
clypeata ; Tufted Duck, Fuligula cristata, and Woodcock,
Scolopax rusticula, all of which have largely increased
as breeding species ; the Stock-Dove, Columba cenas,
a recent arrival in Ireland ; the Missel-Thrush, Turdus
viscivorus, which seems to have arrived only a little
over a century ago ; and the Magpie, Pica rustica, first
observed in Ireland near the end of the seventeenth
century.

The Woodlark, Alauda arbor ea, formerly known
to nest in Cork and Waterford, has apparently ceased
breeding here, as elsewhere in Ireland, and the Quail,
Coturnix communis, formerly abundant, is now almost
unknown.

Of rare stragglers to Ireland, quite a number have been
taken in the province, many of them at island light-
stations, others on the mainland. Munster can claim
the only Irish records for the following species :
Melodious Warbler, Hypolais polyglotta (Old Head of
Kinsale) ; Yellow-browed Warbler, Phylloscopus super-
ciliosus (Tearaght light-station) ; Rufous Warbler,
Aedon galactodes (Old Head of Kinsale) ; Griffon Vul-
ture, Gyps fulvus, and Spotted Eagle, Aquila maculata
(both Co. Cork) ; Red-crested Pochard, Netta rufina
(Tralee, Co. Kerry) ; Great Bustard, Otis tar da (two
near Thurles, Co. Tipperary) ; Baillon's Crake, Porzana
Bailloni (one at Youghal and one at Tramore) ; Tem-
minck's Stint, Tringa Temmincki (Tralee) ; Little Dusky
Shearwater, Puffinus assimilis (Bull Rock, Co. Cork).

9 6 MUNSTER

Near the mouth of Waterford Harbour, in May 1834,
the last specimen of the Great Auk, Alca impennis, seen
in the British Isles was taken in a landing-net by a
fisherman named Kirby. It lived in captivity for four
months, and the mounted skin is preserved in Trinity
College, Dublin. The fact that bones of this bird have
been obtained in some numbers in kitchen-middens
in Waterford, Clare, and Antrim points to the conclusion
that it was an article of food among the prehistoric
people in Ireland.

The only Irish reptile, the Viviparous Lizard (Lacerta
vivipam), is frequent. The little Natterjack Toad (Bufo
calamita) is in Ireland confined to a limited area in Co.
Kerry, where it is abundant. Co. Waterford boasts
the record of the " first Frog " (Rana tem-porana] seen
in Ireland the authority being Giraldus Cambrensis,
and the date about 1187. A later, more circumstantial
account of the introduction of this amphibian places the
date at 1699, and the venue at Trinity College Park,
Dublin. But the occurrence of Frog remains in the
deposits found in several Irish caves would seem to
show that this animal is an old native of the country.
The Common Newt (Molge vulgaris) is the only other
amphibian occurring in the area.

Ireland is comparatively poor in fresh-water fishes ;
almost all of those found in the country occur in Munster.
Salmon, Salmo solar, are abundant, and the Salmon
fisheries are valuable. The Sea-Trout, 5. trutta and S.
cambricus, and the Common Trout, S. fario, in its various
forms (estuarius, stomacMcus, &n.dferox) , also abound. Of
the Charrs, S. Colei is found in Lough Currane. Two other

ZOOLOGY

97

forms, lately described, occur in Kerry 5. fimbriatus
in Lough Coomasaharn, and S. obtusus in Kill Lough
and Lough Acoose. Both are so far unknown outside
Ireland. The endemic Shannon Pollan, Coregonus elegans,
is found in Lough Derg. The Allis Shad, Clupea alosa,
is frequent ; the Twaite Shad, C. finta, has been taken
in the Lakes of Killarney and in the Blackwater. The
Dace, Leuciscus vulgaris, has its only known Irish station
in the lower reaches of the Blackwater. The remaining
fishes occurring in the province do not need special
comment.

The most interesting species in the molluskan fauna
of Munster is undoubtedly the " Kerry Slug," Geomalacus
maculosus. It is abundant over a considerable area
of South Kerry and West Cork, and in damp weather
may be seen crawling over the rocks and feeding on
the lichens which grow on them. Being itself of a grey
colour with black spots, it closely resembles in tint the
lichen- covered rocks among which it lives. Elsewhere
it is found only in north-west Spain and Portugal, and
it is one of the most remarkable members of the Hiberno-
Lusitanian fauna whose origin is discussed in the account
of the Irish fauna in the " Ireland " volume of this
series. Next in interest come two Limnaeas, L. involuta
and L. pratenuis, extreme forms of the pereger group,
both confined to Ireland ; the former known only from
the Killarney-Glengariff area, the latter occurring also
in the district around Belleek in the north-west of Ireland.
A closely allied form occurs on Achill Island, West
Mayo. Another rare species, Pisidium hibernicum, i$
found in this Killarney-Glengariff area. It occurs also
in Galway and in Sweden. Muckross, near Killarney,-
m G

9 8

MUNSTER

is the only Irish station for Vertigo minutissima. It
will thus be seen that the Killarney district is one of
extraordinary interest for the conchologist. There are
other interesting areas in Munster. In the Suir valley,
Paludina vivipara has recently been turned up in numbers
in a fossil condition in the foundations of the bridge at
Waterford a species not known as living in Ireland

The Kerry Slug (Geomalacus maculosus]
beside the lichen on which it feeds

and Helicigona lapicida, hitherto unknown in Ireland,
has recently been discovered living at Fermoy on the
Blackwater, The Burren district in Clare is famous for
the race of enormous Helix nemoralis that lives in the
chinks of its limestone rocks. These resemble 'the
German Pleistocene form H. tonnensis, Sandberger.
Other interesting Munster species are : Hyalinia lucida
(widespread, except in the west), Zonitoides excavatus
(throughout the province, off the limestone), Helicella
barbara (widespread, both on the coast and inland),
granulata (locally plentiful), Acanthinula

ZOOLOGY 99

lamellate, (in every county), C&cilioides acicula (local),
Pupa anglica (in every county), Vertigo Lilljeborgi
(Lough Allua, W. Cork, very rare), V. pusilla (very

Lirnncea pv&tenuis

local), Succinea oblonga (Kerry, Cork, Tipperary, Clare),
Paludestrina confusa (estuaries of the Shannon, Suir
and Barrow), Acicula lineata (widespread), Margaritona
margaritifera (local).

ioo MUNSTER

The district from which many of the more interesting
butterflies and moths come is Killarney, that favoured
home of rare species, both animal and vegetable. Kerry,
Cork and Waterford between them supply almost all
the stations for the scarcer forms. Among the butter-
flies, Killarney is the only Irish station for Argynnis
latonia, Melitcea athalia, and Syrichthus mal-uce. Other
rare Munster butterflies are Colias hyale (appeared in
numbers in 1868), Gonepteryx rhawini (Killarney and
Dinas), Theda betula (locally frequent), Hesperia
thaumas (near Cork), and H. sylvanus (Killarney). From
the long list of moths the following may be selected:
Leucania Loreyi (Queenstown, an extremely rare insect) ;
Sesia scoliteformis (Kenmare and Killarney) ; the Lime
Hawk-moth, Smerinthes tilicB (Killarney) ; the Galway
Burnet, Zyg&na pilosellce, var. nubigena (limestone
pastures of northern Clare, elsewhere in Ireland known
only from the adjoining similar ground in Galway) ;
the southern Lithosia caniola (Tramore) ; the Lobster
Moth, Stauropus fagi (two specimens near Kenmare) ;
the rare Notodonta bicoloria (Killarney and Kenmare) ;
Leucania Loreyi (two examples taken in Sussex in 1862
and one at Queenstown in 1910 constitute the only
records in the British Isles) ; the southern L. mtellina
(Courtmacsherry) ; Nonagria sparganii (not rare be-
tween Old Head of Kinsale and Glandore : in England
only in Kent) ; Aporophyla australis (sandhills in Water-
ford) ; the southern Laphygma exigua (Timoleague,
Co. Cork) ; A gratis rapes (sandhills at Rossbeigh, Kerry) ;
T&niocampa populeti (Killarney) ; the rare melanic var.
Barrettii of Dianthcecia luteago (coasts of Waterford
and Cork) ; Cucullea absinthii (Timoleague, Co. Cork) ;
Helisthis peltigera (Castlehaven and Crookhaven, Co.

ZOOLOGY 101

Cork) ; H. armigera (Glengariff) ; Tholomiges turfosalis
(Killarney, only Irish station) ; the geometer Peri-
callia syringaria (Cappagh, Co. Waterford) ; and the rare
plume-moth Platyptilia tesseradactyla (Clare and Galway).

In the south-west, around Killarney and Glengariff,
a number of interesting beetles are recorded, including
the alpine Leistus montanus (on the mountains), the rare
Pelophilus borealis (Killarney lake-shores), Harp aim
meloncholicus (Glengariff, only Irish station), Lebia
crux-minor and the long-horn Anoplodera sexguttala
(both at Muckross, ditto), Anisosticta xix-punctata
(Kenmare, ditto), Elater prc&ustus (Glencar, ditto),
the alpine Pryopterus affinis and Aromia moschata
(Killarney and Kenmare), Strangalia aurulenta and the
northern Donacia obscura (both Glengariff). Other
beetles which in Ireland are known from Munster alone
are Carabus cancellatus (Rosscarbery, only certain record
for the British Isles), Elaphrus uliginosus (Gap of
Dunloe and Glengariff), Pterostichus aterrimus (near
Cork), and Chrysomela sanguinolenta (Rosscarbery).
On the sea-shore of Cork and Kerry Amara convexiuscula
and Aepus Robinii have been taken. On lake-shores
and river-banks occur Panagaus crux-major (Finlough,
Co. Clare), Chlcenius holosericeus (Cork and Kerry),
Bidessus minutissimus (rivers at Kenmare and Cork),
and Silpha dispar (Lough Derg). The mountain
beetles include Carabus glabratus and C. clathraius
(both in several counties), and the beautiful Chrysomela
cerealis (Knockmealdown) , which is unknown elsewhere
in Ireland, has been taken in Great Britain only on
Snowdon. In spite of the remarkably mild climate of
the south of Ireland, distinctively northern species are

102 MUNSTER

rather ["characteristic ; such, for instance, as Blethisa
multipunctata (marshes, frequent), Pselaphus dresdensis
(Killarney), the Cockchafer Melolontha hippocastani
(Cork and Kerry), Lema septentrionalis (Waterford and
Cork), and Otionhynchus blandus (frequent). Against
these there are very few distinctively southern forms.
The following beetles may also be mentioned : Clamgev
testaceus (Waterford), Silpha quadripunctata (Clare and
Waterford), S. subrotundata (common, as elsewhere in
Ireland), the conspicuous Timarcha tenebricosa (Waterford
and Tipperary), and the Holly-boring Weevil, Rhopalo-
mesites Tardyi, so frequent in Ireland and so rare
elsewhere, which is on record in this district from Cork
and Kerry.

The Mitchelstown cave in Co. Tipperary, a cavern
a mile and a quarter in length, is inhabited by Por-
rhomma myops, an interesting spider with degenerate
eyes, elsewhere known only from the cave of Espezel,
Dept. of Aude, in southern France. Another very
rare Munster spider is Tegenaria hibemica, taken at
Cork and Skibbereen, and found also in Dublin (abun-
dant), Wicklow and S.E. Galway. This species is un-
known outside Ireland, and has its nearest relatives in
the Pyrenees. It is an interesting member of the old
Hiberno-Lusitanian fauna which is described and dis-
cussed at some length in the Ireland volume of the
present series. The following spiders have not so far
been obtained in Ireland beyond the confines of Munster :
Prothesima longipes and Euophrys evraticus (both
Clare).; Xysticus lanio, Epeira adianta, and Hyctra
Nivoyi (all in Waterford) ; Xysticus pini, Euryopis
flavomaculata, Tmeticus rivalis, Hilaira montigena,

ZOOLOGY 103

Tetragnatha pinicola and Mangora acalypha (all from
Kerry) ; Teutana grossa and Hyptiotes paradoxus (both
Cork), and Pholcus phalangoides (Waterford, Limerick,
Cork and Kerry). The following species are also
worthy of mention : Micariosoma festivum (Cork and
Clare, also in Leinster) ; Tegenaria atrica (Cork and
Limerick, also Dublin) ; Stylocteton uncinus (Kerry ;
also in Ulster ; unknown outside the British Isles) ;
Pardosa purbeckensis (Kerry ; also in Connaught ; like
the last, unknown outside the British area). The follow-
ing notable species occur in several Munster counties,
and are widely spread in Ireland : Cyclosa conica,
Pisaura mirabilis, Dolomedes fimbriatus, Misumena
vaiia, and Angelena labyrinthica.

Space does not permit of any account of the other
groups of Arthropods or of lower forms, but brief
reference may be made to a few miscellaneous species
which are of special interest. Among the dragonflies,
Libellula fulva, rare in Great Britain, has its only Irish
station at Dingle, and Somatochlora arctica, an insect
of arctic and alpine range, in Great Britain confined
to a few Scottish mountains, occurs in Ireland only
in Kerry. The only scorpion-fly found in Ireland
is Panorpa germanica, taken at Blarney and Youghal.
Among the Hemiptera, Mpophilus Bonnairei is an
interesting member of the Lusitanian fauna already
alluded to, being confined in its range to south (Dun-
garvan) and west Ireland, S.W. England, France and
Spain, its habitat being between tide-marks. The large
Grasshopper Mecostethus grossus occurs in Kerry
an insect with a puzzling range, but mainly northern.
The fresh-water shrimp Mysis relicta has been taken
in the Shannon at Portumna ; it is unknown in Great

104 MUNSTER

Britain, ranging across Northern Europe and America.
Eisenia veneta is an interesting earthworm, occurring,
in the variety zebra, at Limerick. The species has a
wide but discontinuous Mediterranean range, the
Limerick form being known elsewhere only from Trans-
caucasia. The fresh- water sponge Heteromeyenia Ryderi,
which is confined to North America and Ireland, is
abundant in the district.

ANTIQUITIES

MUNSTER contains numerous antiquities both prehistoric
and historic. Many of the former are to be seen in
Co. Kerry, while the most striking group of ecclesiastical
buildings in Ireland is situated on the rock of Cashel,
Co. Tipperary. The largest county in Ireland, Cork,
which forms part of the province, contains an unusually
large number of prehistoric and later antiquities.

There is no native flint in the district, and, though
it is probable that the neolithic population imported
it from the north of Ireland, flint implements have
rarely been found in this part of the country : a
number of polished axes have been discovered, and,
as dolmens, stone circles, and other megalithic re-
mains abound, we may conjecture that the neolithic
population was a large one and was organised into
tribes; the erection of great stone monuments point-
ing to a considerable amount of social organisation
and to an advanced form of religious belief. As the
province contains some of the most fertile land in
Ireland, it is natural that it should have been occupied
and prosperous from early times. Numerous antiquities

ANTIQUITIES 105

of Bronze-Age date have been found in the different
counties, while the discovery of the so-called " Clare
find" of gold ornaments indicates wealth in this
precious metal. The great number of forts of all types
scattered through the province show that it was well popu-
lated in prehistoric and later times ; two of its principal
cities, Waterford and Limerick, were founded by the
Norsemen.

Among the finds of prehistoric objects the most re-
markable is the " Great Clare find." It was discovered
when a cutting was made for the Limerick and Ennis
Railway in 1854, by a gang of workmen who were
digging a piece of ground lying a little to the south of
the railway bridge in Moghaun north, on the west of
Moghaun fort, opposite the lake. The workmen under-
mined a stone cist, and the fall of one of the stones
disclosed a mass of gold ornaments of various types
gorgets, necklets, bracelets, and some ingots. The
value of the find has been stated to be about 6000 ;
if it had been preserved entire it would have been the
largest find of associated gold objects of Bronze Age
date that has yet been discovered in Western Europe.
Unfortunately most of the ornaments were sold to
jewellers and melted down ; only a small number were
preserved, some of which are now to be seen in the
National Museum, Dublin.

Another interesting find was made at Mountrivers,
Rylane, Coachford, Co. Cork, in May 1907, by two men
when making a fence ; it included two gold fibulas, a
penannular copper ring, two bronze celts, and eleven
amber beadX The find may be placed in the late Bronze
Age, and is of importance as indicating trade relations
between Scandinavia and Ireland at this early date.

106 MUNSTER

There is little doubt that the amber was derived from
the north. Irish gold ornaments have been found in
Scandinavia and were probably bartered for amber,
which was much prized in prehistoric times.

It is impossible in the space at our disposal to give
more than a slight sketch of the principal archaeological
and architectural monuments of Munster ; it will there-
fore be understood that the following account is only
intended to convey a general impression of some of the
more important antiquities of the province.

An archaeologist of repute, who has given some
attention to the subject, considers it probable that there
are more stone circles in Munster alone than in the
whole of England.

Co. Clare is rich in megalithic remains of various kinds.
The majority of the dolmens stretch in a broad band
from the Burren in a south-easterly direction to Slieve
Bernagh ; the monuments lie inland rather than on the
coast. They are most abundant in the Burren, in the
eastern portion of the county. The types vary, but
the one most frequently met with is in the form of a stone
box composed of four or more slabs with a cover. Mr
T. J. Westropp, who has described the megalithic monu-
ments of Clare, computed the total number at 172,
including 84 dolmens and large cists. 1

The dolmens of Co. Tipperary have been studied
in some detail. 2 They number twenty-five, seven
of which are in a fair state of preservation. The
principal group is in the hilly district surrounding the
village of Kilcommon. It is situated about 10 miles

1 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, xxvi., sec. C, p. 458.

2 Crawford, Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland,
3d., P- 38.

ANTIQUITIES 107

north of Dundrum station and twelve miles north-east
of Oola station. Here can be seen the remains of eleven
dolmens in a more or less ruined condition, and the sites
of four others, spread over a tract of land about seven
miles from east to west and four miles from north to
south. In the same district are the remains of four or
more stone circles. The best preserved dolmen in the
county is situated at Baurnadomeeny East. It lies about
a quarter of a mile north of the village of Rear Cross,
in a valley to the east of the road, with its axis running
east and west ; it measures 24 ft. in length and 10 ft. in
breadth. Its eastern end makes a rectangular chamber
10 ft. long, 4 ft. wide, and 4 ft. high : its roof is formed
of four large stones. The western chamber measures
nearly 7 ft. square and 3 ft. 6 in. high. The amount of
earth which still remains on the roof of the dolmen
points to it having been originally covered by a mound ;
traces of a stone circle which formerly surrounded the
dolmen may also be observed.

Though the monuments differ much in size, all appear
to belong to one type that is, "a long, low dolmen,
with sides parallel or slightly tapering towards the east,
and formed of two or three rows of upright stones placed
close together. The central, or perhaps more strictly the
eastern, part is a long, narrow chamber, roofed with
several large slabs, which are laid almost level or with a
slight slope towards the east. To the west of this is a
somewhat wider and shorter chamber, separated from the
former by one of the most massive stones in the whole
structure, and having its roof set at a somewhat higher
level."

Co. Cork contains numerous megalithic remains.
Borlase mentioned seventy-one dolmens, but many of

io8 MUNSTER

these were then in a state of dilapidation, and only
represented by a single stone. A number of stone
circles, standing stones, and earns are also to be seen
in the county.

The dolmens of Co. Kerry number, according to
Borlase, twenty-two. Two in the townland of Gortna-
gulla may be mentioned, as they have been examined
and planned in recent years. Both are wedge-shaped
structures and belong to a type common in the South
of Ireland.

Several stone circles of interest are also to be seen,
among the most important being that of Liosavigeen,
about three miles from Killarney. It consists of seven
stones, which vary in height from 3 ft. to sf ft., with
an average breadth of 3 ft. They enclose a circle of
about 17 ft. in diameter, and are themselves surrounded
by a ring fort of earth with a diameter of 78 ft.

About 45 ft. south of the top of the rampart of the
fort are two standing stones ; they are 7 ft. apart, and
the larger measures 7J ft. in height and 6 ft. 3 ins. in
breadth; the smaller is nearly 7 ft. high and 4f ft.
in breadth.

There are not many dolmens in Limerick, but the
series of megalithic monuments at Loch Gur make
the prehistoric remains of this county of interest. Loch
Gur is a picturesquely situated lake about 3 miles
north of Bruff. It appears to have been the centre
of a Bronze-Age cemetery. The lake itself was
probably sacred, and it is likely that the large number
of antiquities that have been found in or near it
were deposited as votive offerings. The remains include
nine stone circles, a dolmen, an alignment or avenue
of stones, and numerous pillar stones. At the east side

ANTIQUITIES 109

of the lake is a hill called Knockadoon ; at the northern
end of this is a mediaeval castle called Bourchier's Castle,
and at the southern another, known as the Black Castle.
The district belonged to the Desmonds, and legends
connected with this family are still told by the country
people. The largest of the stone circles is some 150
feet in diameter and is flanked by an earthen bank.
Several of the stones which form it are of great size,
but it was repaired during the last century, and it is
unfortunately impossible to say whether all the stones
are now in their original position. The megalithic
monuments have recently been described and illustrated
by Sir B. C. A. Windle, F.R.S. 1

Borlase assigns fifteen dolmens to Co. Waterford ;
of these Knockeen is remarkable. Situated about a
mile from Waterford city, it is of great size and
in good preservation. One of the covering slabs is
13 ft. long by 8 ft. wide, and weighs about ten tons ;
it is supported by six uprights. This dolmen belongs
to a type, fairly common in Waterford, which has
a main chamber and an outer chamber or portico.
About two miles further, on the main road, is another
dolmen in the townland of Gaulstown ; it is of the same
type as that at Knockeen, its cap-stone weighs about
six tons. Close to this is a smaller monument of the
cistvaen type, and about two miles further from these,
at Ballymotey, is a remarkable pillar stone. One other
large dolmen in the same district, situated in the town-
land of Ballynageeragh, a mile.to the west of Dunhill,
may be mentioned. It is well preserved ; its cap-stone,
which measures 12 by 8 ft., is computed to weigh six
and three-quarter tons.

1 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, xxx., sec, C, p. 283.

no MUNSTER

Munster contains the largest number of forts of all
the Irish provinces. The number has been estimated at
12,232 : there are 7593 forts in Connacht ; 4651 in
Leinster ; and 4283 in Ulster. It is, however, certain
that the actual number of forts in each of the provinces
exceeds these totals.

Co. Kerry contains many forts of the Cashel type,
the best-known example of these being Staigue Fort,
situated in Kilcrohan parish, barony of Iveragh, Co.
Kerry. It is composed of a circular wall 89 ft. in dia-
meter, nearly 13 ft. thick at the base, and 7 ft. at the top.
On the north and west sides the wall is 18 ft. high ; the
north side of the wall is still perfect, and the coping-
stones are flags about 3 feet long ; the construction
of the wall is interesting, the stones being laid as headers
and filled in with small stones. There is a square-headed
doorway with sloping sides on the south ; and there
are two small chambers in the fort one on the west
and one on the north side. There are ten sets of stairs
around the inside of the wall, leading to platforms
and forming the most interesting feature of the fort.

The Kerry forts, containing stone huts, or Clochdns,
are very numerous ; they exist in hundreds, and in
many cases are still intact. The remarkable early
settlement in the south-west of the barony of Corka-
guiney contains many such buildings. It consists of
a group of structures which lie along the sea-coast
between Ventry Harbour and Dunmore Head, about
ten miles from Dingle. The settlement covers about
four towrdands and verges on three others ; the remains
cluster thickly round the lower parts of Mount Eagle
and Beennacouma. It is not visible from the road,
with the exceptions of the large forts of Dun Beag and

ANTIQUITIES m

Kilvickadownig. This remarkable site contains 515
forts, numerous huts, pillar stones, and other remains.
The most important building of the entire series is
Dun Beag (the little fort), one of the most striking pre-
historic antiquities of Ireland. It consists of a stone
wall, which cuts off a promontory protected on the
landward side by an elaborate system of earthen walls
and trenches, the area enclosed being thus triangular
in shape, defended on the seaward side with great
precipices. The height of the fort is about 90-100 ft.
above the level of the sea. The edge of the cliff was
protected by a dry stone wall, of which about 18 ft. in
length and 2 ft. 2 in. in thickness remains at the south
point. One stone building or Clochdn remains inside
the fort ; it is circular, with a diameter of about 37 ft. ;
it had a domed roof and a movable door. The great
wall of the fort is 139 J ft. in length, and varies in width
from 8 ft. to ii ft. Its internal face batters by irregular
stages marked off by terraces, which doubtless served
the purpose of enabling the defenders to mount the walls
and reconnoitre. The doorway is remarkable ; it is
nearly 7 ft. in height and the same in breadth, with a
reveal for the reception of a movable door ; to the west
and east of it there are several chambers. It contained
a souterrain which maintained a straight course for a
distance of 45 ft. The defences on the landward side
consist of an alternation of fosse and vallum. The fort
has suffered from a restoration undertaken some years
ago.

Kilvickadownig is another important fort belonging
to this group ; it contains within it three cells, and there
is one outside. The wealth of antiquities in this early
settlement is astonishing ; there are 414 clochans,

H2 MUNSTER

2 promontory forts, 7 raths, 15 forts, 12 crosses, 18
standing and inscribed stones, including two oghams,
19 souter rains, and 29 other ancient buildings and
enclosures, which make a total of over 500 ancient
remains. It is not easy to estimate the earliest period
at which this site was inhabited, but, judging from the
inscribed stones, Christianity was introduced not long
after the original settlement. From the scanty remains
of personal antiquities recovered it would appear that
the general standard of comfort was low. The site
and its antiquities have been surveyed by Professor
R. A. S. Macalister, 1 and any person proposing to visit
the remains should first read over his monograph.

Caherconree, another promontory fort in the same
county, is a triangular space on a spur situated a
little below the summit of one of the Sliabh Mis moun-
tains, commanding a magnificent view over the whole
peninsula of Corkaguiney. It is situated at a height of
some 2050 ft. above the sea-level. The fort is bounded
on two sides by precipices, and on the mountain side
by a stone wall 350 ft. long and about 15 ft. thick, now
very ruinous, composed of the native rock (Old Red
Sandstone). The facing stones are laid as headers ;
there is a shallow fosse outside. The gates are defaced.
There is no indication of any buildings independent
of the wall inside the enclosure : a. number of trial
pits which were sunk in the fort in 1910 revealed nothing
but a thick mass of loose stones underneath about
3 ft. to 4 ft. of soft turf bog. Caherconree (the fort
of Curaoi) has the following legend, belonging to the
Cuchulainn saga, connected with it : Curaoi was King
of West Munster about the first century A.D. Cuchulainn,
1 Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, xxxi., pp. 209-344.

ANTIQUITIES 113

the chief hero of Ulster, was in love with Guraoi's wife,
Blanaid, who returned his passion. Taking an oppor-
tunity, when most of Curaoi's men were absent from the
fort, Blanaid gave the signal to Cuchulainn by pouring
milk into the stream that runs down the mountain,
which was afterwards named the Fionnghlaise (white
stream). Cuchulainn, on seeing the stream become
white, stormed the fort, killed Curaoi, and carried
off Blanaid.

A Munster earthwork that has claimed much attention
is the mote of Knockgraffon, near Clonmel, Co. Tipper-
ary. It is one of the finest motes in Ireland, measuring
some 55 ft. in height, with a diameter of about 60 ft.
on the top ; it is surrounded by a fosse, and has a
hatchet-shaped bailey about 70 paces long by 57 wide
attached to it at the western side. The bailey has a
slight rampart round the edge, and beyond this a wide
fosse and high vallum, the fosse of the bailey joining
that of the mote. Mr G. H. Orpen, who considers
Knockgraffon to be a Norman mote, has identified it
with the castle of Knockgraffon which the Annals of
the Four Masters record as having been built by the
English of Leinster in 1192, in the course of their
expedition against Domhnall Briain king of North
Munster. Other archaeologists have ascribed an earlier
date to this mote, and considered it to be the fort of
Fiachaidh Muilleathan, who was king of Munster in
the third century A.D. It is probable that Knock-
graffon originally was a Celtic tumulus which was later
used by the Normans as a site for a mote castle.

Another good example of a mote is situated at Lismore,
Co. Waterford. It is a lofty .conical mound, with a flat,
top, divided by a fosse from a crescent-shaped bailey.
m H

n 4 MUNSTER

King John erected a castellum at Lismore in 1185 A.D. ;
probably the mote and bailey represent this.

No less than five-sixths of the known Irish Ogham
inscriptions have been found in Munster. Kerry
contains 120 inscriptions, or one- third of the total.
More than 60 of these are in the barony of Corkaguiney.
There are some 80 inscriptions in Co. Cork and about
40 in Co. Waterford.

Lake Dwellings, or Crannogs, are not so numerous
in Munster as in the other provinces, but several are
important and have been found to contain antiquities
valuable for the study of archaeology.

The Crannog of Lough Gur, Co. Limerick, has yielded
a number of objects of various descriptions at different
times ; unfortunately it has not been scientifically
excavated, it is therefore difficult to form any opinion as
to when it was first inhabited. The antiquities, stated
to have been recovered on various occasions from this
site, include a remarkable bronze spear-head with th;e
socket inlaid with gold ; part of a stone mould for
casting socketed, and looped, spear-heads ; an iron
sword of late date ; numerous stone celts, and various
objects of bronze.

The decorated High Crosses to be seen in this province
number some twenty- one ; they are distributed among
the counties of Clare, Kerry, and Tipperary ; none
are recorded from the counties of Cork or Waterford..

One of the most interesting is the cross of Dysert

O'Dea, near Corofin, Co. Clare. It stands about

150 yards east of the church of Dysert Tola, on a

4 small mound, and springs from a quadrangular base,

-upon which is a large block which supports the shaft,

head, and cap. The base of the cross is carved with

ANTIQUITIES 115

inscriptions stating that it was newly repaired by
Michael O'Dea in 1683, and re-erected by Francis
Hutcheson Synge in 1871. The north side of the base
is carved with a figure holding a crosier of the usual
Irish form, while two other figures hold a large tau-
shaped crosier. On the east face of the shaft is the
effigy of St Tola wearing a mitre and holding a crosier ;
on the head of the cross is a representation of the
Crucifixion. The north and south sides of the shaft,
and the . west face, are decorated with various zoo-
morphic, interlaced, and linear, patterns.

Other High Crosses of interest are those at Ahenny,
Co. Tipperary. They are situated in a graveyard
formerly called Kilclispeen, about 4 miles north of
Carrick-on-Suir. Neither of the crosses contain panels
with figure sculpture representing Biblical or other
scenes ; they are covered with every kind of spiral,
interlaced, and fret patterns. The bases of both crosses
are remarkable. On the west face of the north cross
are carved seven figures, six of them holding crosiers :
on the east is a man standing under a palm tree, with a
number of animals in various attitudes in front of him.
On the north side is a carving of a chariot and two
mounted figures : on the south side is a representation
of a procession; it is headed by men holding a ringed
cross and a crosier, then comes a horse carrying on its
back the headless body of a man upon which are perched
two large birds who peck the flesh ; the procession ends
with a man carrying a child on his back. The base of
the south cross is in a worn state, and the carvings of
the panels are much defaced : they represent hunting
scenes.

Another cross that deserves mention is the curious

u6 MUNSTER

tau-shaped example at Kilnaboy, about three and a half
miles north-west of Corofin, Co. Clare. This T-shaped
cross, measuring 2| ft. in height, is fixed into a boulder.
Two remarkable faces are carved on its upper surface,
one on each side of the head.

The islands off the coast of Kerry contain some
interesting early ecclesiastical remains.

The monastery on Skellig Rock is difficult of approach,
except in good weather. Jt- is one of the most curious
primitive ecclesiastical settlements in Western Europe.
The monastery was dedicated to St Michael : it is built
on a rock which rises perpendicularly out of the sea to
a great height, standing out in the Atlantic twelve miles
from the nearest land. The remains consist of six small
dochdns or stone huts built of dry stones with corbelled
roofs ; the oratory of St Michael, which is the only
structure built with mortar in the monastery; three
other dry stone oratories ; two large and a number
of small crosses ; a cashel or stone fort encloses the
buildings and surrounds the edge of the precipice.

The island was formerly a resort for pilgrims who used-
to ascend the " Way of the Cross," various points
of the cliffs being named after the different stations
of the Cross. There still remain six hundred steps cut-
out in the cliff, which rises to 720 ft. above the sea.
The lower portion of the ascent is now broken
away.

The Blasket Islands are twelve in number. The
largest, Inismore, has the ruins of an ancient church
and a graveyard. There are the ruins of a church and
a nearly perfect clochdn, with the foundations of several
others, on Inisvickillane, the most southerly of the
islands.

ARCHITECTURE 117

Some of the Armada ships were wrecked off the
Blaskets, and about seventy years ago the islanders
fished up a small brass cannon ornamented with a shield
of arms bearing an uprooted tree.

ARCHITECTURE

Monastic Foundations

Previous to the dissolution of the monasteries there
were close on one hundred religious foundations in
the province of Munster. Many of these were com-
munities of importance; their ruins add much to the
picturesqueness and interest of the province. In spite
of the Reformation Ireland remained substantially a
Roman Catholic country, and in many cases small
bodies of monks faced the danger of persecution and
returned in the seventeenth century to Ireland, leading
a furtive existence amid the ruins of their former homes.

One of the most interesting of the monastic remains
in Munster are the ruins of Holy Cross Abbey, Co.
Tipperary. This abbey was founded in 1169 A.D. by
Domhnall Briain king of Limerick, for monks of the
Cistercian order ; its possessions were confirmed to it by
King John. A portion of the true Cross which had been
presented to Donnchadh Briain by Pope Pascal II
in i no was preserved in a jewelled shrine of gold in
the abbey, to which it gave its name : the monastery
owed much of its wealth to offerings made by pilgrims
at this shrine. The remains of the abbey are extensive ;
the cruciform church consists of an aisled nave, choir,
transepts with eastern chapels, and a square tower at

u8 MUNSTER

the junction of the nave and choir. The eastern portion
of the church has two storeys, the upper having probably
served as a dwelling. The church was much altered
and rebuilt in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth
centuries ; few traces of the original Romanesque building
can now be seen. The fine east window is reticulated,

Holy Cross Abbey, Co. Tipper ary

while those of the transept-chapels are filled with
flowing tracery of Flamboyant type. The eastern
portion of the church has many ornamental details,
there being two especially remarkable pieces of
carving, one in the chancel and the other in the south
transept. That in the chancel is known as the " Tomb
of the Good Woman's Son/' but was evidently the
sedilia. It has three arches with foliage cusps and

ARCHITECTURE 119

tracery surmounted by a canopy ; above the arches are
shields carved with the royal arms of England, of
Butler, and of Desmond. It is probably of early fif-
teenth century date. Between the south transept chapels
is the remarkable structure which has been sometimes
considered to have been the sanctuary in which the relic
of the Holy Cross was preserved ; it is, however, more
probable that it was a " waking chamber, " a receptacle
for a coffin. The roof of this monument is elaborately
groined : the supporting pillars have twisted shafts,
with bases, but no capitals ; the panelling below the shafts
is carved with foliage similar to that on the sedilia:
it is apparently of the same date. There are not many
remains of the conventual buildings ; the cloister, which
lay to the south, is now covered with grass ; the cellarium
still exists at the west end : above this was the dorter
of the lay brothers. The buildings on the south side
of the cloister have disappeared.

Another large and imposing monastic ruin to be seen
in the province is the Augustinian Priory of St Edmund,
at Athassel, Co. Tipperary. It was founded about
1200 A.D. by William de Burgo, and dedicated to St
Edmund, King and Martyr. It became an important
foundation, and its prior was summoned to parliament
as a peer. Both Walter and Richard de Burgo were
buried in the monastery. The priory owed much to the
de Burgo family, and there are several monuments in the
church which probably belong to members of this house.
At the dissolution it was granted to Thomas earl of
Ormonde. The buildings covered a large extent of
ground occupying about an acre, without the entrance
gateway and courtyard. The main buildings are
probably of thirteenth century date. The church is

120 MUNSTER

cruciform with an aisled nave, transepts with eastern
chapels, a choir and a central tower, with a flanking
tower at the north-west angle of the nave. The cloister
lay to the south of the church, and around it the
conventual buildings were arranged. The original
cloister arcade was probably of wood ; the remains of
the cloister at present to be seen date from the fifteenth
century.

The Dominican Friary at Kilmallock was founded in
1291 A.D. The remains of the church and conventual
buildings are considerable. The church consists of a
choir, and nave with a single aisle ; a tall, square tower
rises from the junction of the choir and nave ; there is
a single transept to the south, and a small sacristy to
the north, of the choir. The conventual buildings lie
to the north ; the day-room of the Friars and the kitchen
are in good preservation. The window in the choir,
which consists of five slender lancets, is of pleasing
Early-English design. There are several tombs of
interest in the choir, the best known being the broken
slab which marks the grave of Edmond the last White
Knight, a descendant of the reputed founder of the
Priory. Edmond the White Knight betrayed his kins-
man, the Sugdn Earl of Desmond, in 1601, when the
latter had taken refuge in the cave of Mitchelstown,
Co. Cork. The White Knight received as a reward
the sum of 1000 ; he died in 1608 ; his estates finally
passed in the female line to Lord Kingston.

Ennis Friary, Co. Clare, is worthy of mention, not so
much on account of its architectural interest as for the
remarkable monuments that it contains.

The monastery was founded in the first half of the
thirteenth century by Donnchadh Cairbrech Briain,

ARCHITECTURE 121

King of Thomond, for Friars Minor. It was enlarged by
Toirrdhealbhach Briain at the end of the thirteenth
century, and was further enlarged in the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries. The ruins of the church consist
of a chancel and nave with a lofty tower at their junction.

Ennis Friary, Co. Clare

The most important of the monuments is the so-called
Royal or MacMahon tomb, which is built against the
north wall of the chancel near the east gable. It was
at one time a mere heap of stones, but the sculptured
slabs were rebuilt about 1843. The carved slabs have
been described as being " probably the finest and
most spirited series of late fifteenth-century carvings

122 MUNSTER

of the Passion in our Irish monasteries." The sub-
jects include, the Betrayal of our Lord, the Flagellation,
the Crucifixion, the Entombment, and Resurrection. The
ancient canopy of this tomb fell down in recent times,
and a modern one, imitated from that of the Inchiquin
tomb, was erected in its place. The second canopied
tomb stands against the south wall of the chancel and
is probably of late fifteenth century date. It covers
the graves of King Toirrdhealbach ; Cu-Meadha Mac-
Conmara; and some of the Lords Inchiquin. It is
decorated with some gracefully carved floral designs.

The Franciscan Friary of Askeaton, Co. Limerick,
is a ruin of large extent and considerable interest. It
stands on the east bank of the River Deel. The
buildings include a church and transept to the north,
with a cloister, which is in good preservation, to the
south.

Another Franciscan house that deserves mention is
the monastery of Kilcrea, Co. Cork. Commonly called
Kilcrea Abbey, it was founded in 1465 A.D. by Cormac
MacCarthaigh, Lord of Muskerry, and dedicated to
St Brigid. The church consists of a choir and nave
with a south aisle, and a transept, with a lofty tower at
the junction of the choir and nave. The cloister, sur-
rounded by the conventual buildings, is to the north.
The architecture is plain, and the lofty tower, about
80 ft. high, is the most striking feature of the
ruin. The priory had a curious history ; at the dis-
solution it was granted to Sir Cormac MacTaidhg,
who did not disturb the Friars. In 1596 the convent
was leased to Richard Harding, who also does not appear
to have turned out the Friars. It was looted in 1599,
but in 1604 the Friars returned. In 1614 it was

ARCHITECTURE

123

again granted away by the Lord Deputy, one of the
conditions being that the Friars should be driven out.

Trinitarian Friary, Adare, Co. Limerick

The ecclesiastical remains at Adare, Co. Limerick,
are picturesque and interesting. Situated close to
Adare Manor, the seat of the Earl of Dunraven, they

124 MUNSTER

consist of the ruins of three monasteries : one founded
for Trinitarian Friars, another for Augustinian Hermits,
and the third for Franciscan Friars Observant. The
Trinitarian monastery was founded in 1230 A.D. ; the
present remains consist of the church, and one wall of the
buildings which composed the north side of the cloister,
with a large tower at the western end, and a smaller
one at the eastern end. The church has a nave, chancel
and north transept, and a square central tower, with an
embattled roof, at the junction of the nave and chancel.
The north transept was lengthened and converted into a
convent schoolroom in the last century. The church
was repaired, enlarged, and the chancel rebuilt in 1852.
Near it is an interesting low dovecot of circular form
with a conical stone roof.

The Augustinian monastery was founded for Hermits
of the order of St Augustine in 1315 by John earl of
Kildare. The remains include the church, the cloisters,
the refectory, and a long building extending to the
north. The church consists of a chancel, a nave with a
south aisle, and a square tower at the junction of the
nave and chancel. This building was later converted
into a Protestant church ; its architecture does not call
for remark. Attached to the north-east angle of the
building, on the north side of the cloisters, is a gateway
with two shields over the arch, one bearing the arms
of the Desmond FitzGeralds, the other those of the
Leinster FitzGeralds. These shields probably com-
memorate the founders of this portion of the building.
The ancient dovecot attached to the priory is still in
existence.

The Franciscan Friary was founded in 1464 by Thomas
earl of Kildare, and his wife Joanna. It was one of the

ARCHITECTURE

125

most celebrated convents in the province of Munster,
and, though of moderate size, is of interest owing to the
completeness of its various buildings, being a good
example of the Irish monastic architecture of the
fifteenth century. The remains consist of a church
with a nave, square tower, and chancel, a south transept

Franciscan Friary, Adare, Co. Limerick (south view)

with -two eastern chapels, and a western aisle. The
cloister is on the north side, and the conventual buildings
can be well studied, several of them being in a good state
of preservation. Among the most interesting features
of the church are the remains of painted mural decora-
tion which can still be observed.

Corcomroe Abbey, situated in the limestone hills
of Co. Clare, was founded by Domhnall 6 Briain about

126 MUNSTER

1182. The remains include a church and small cloister,
with some domestic buildings to the east. The church
is cruciform. The nave is plain, but the chancel and
chapels contain interesting architectural details of the
transitional period.

Cathedrals 1

The cathedral churches of the province of Munster
are in many cases interesting buildings ; among them is
the ancient cathedral on the rock of Cashel, which
includes Cormac's chapel, perhaps the most important
Romanesque building in Ireland.

Taking the cathedrals in alphabetical order, the first
is Aghadoe (Achadh da eo, the field of the two yew
trees), the bishopric of which has for many centuries
been united with that of Ardfert. The remains of the
ecclesiastical buildings include the base of a round
tower, another circular tower, and a small ruined church
known as the cathedral. The latter is a small build-
ing consisting of a nave and chancel ; there is a fine
Romanesque doorway in the nave and two lancet
windows in the chancel.

Ardfert (Ardfearta, the height of the grave) is a small
village near TraJee in Co. Kerry ; the cathedral is a build-
ing of much interest ; though now roofless it is otherwise
fairly complete. It was unroofed during the rebellion
of 1641, but the transept was roofed and used as a parish
church until 1871. The main body of the cathedral
was probably built about the middle of the thirteenth
century, being erected as a simple rectangle, but a large

1 The writer has received assistance in writing notes on the
Cathedrals from The Cathedral Churches of Ireland, 1 894, by the
late T. M. Fallow, F.S.A.

ARCHITECTURE

127

transept was added to the south side in later times,
and it was probably at the same time that the main
wall was embattled. The west doorway and its arcade
is the most interesting portion of the building, being
a fine specimen of Romanesque architecture. It is a

Corcomroe Abbey, Co. Clare

portion of an older Romanesque building, which formerly
occupied the site of the present cathedral.

Ardmore (the great height), Co. Waterford, became
the seat of a bishopric in the fifth century, but it was
absorbed into the see of Lismore at the end of the
twelfth century, and, though among the ruins there is
a building called the cathedral, it can hardly be con-

128 MUNSTER

sidered as a cathedral church. The ecclesiastical
ruins at Ardmore are of considerable interest. They
include a small stone oratory, the church known as the
cathedral, a round tower, St Declan's well, and close
to the latter the remains of a church known as Teampull
Deisceirt (Church of the South). Of these the oratory,
a small oblong building, is the oldest. It has been re-
paired and has a modern slated roof, put up in 1716 A.D.
by Dr Thomas Mills bishop of Waterford. - A stone
engraved with an ogham inscription was built into the
gable. The building measures 13 ft. 4 in. by 8 ft. 9 in.,
with walls about 2 J ft. thick ; the door is square-headed.

The cathedral consists of a nave and chancel ; it has
a remarkable series of panels on the outer west face,
containing representations of various scriptural and
other scenes. The pointed east window of the chancel
has been built up ; the chancel arch is a fine piece of
transitional architecture. An ogham inscribed stone
was found in the north wall of the chancel.

Only the western wall -and more eastern part of the
south wall of Teampull Deisceirt remain, and the building
does not contain any architectural features of interest.

St Declan's well is close to the west end of the
church ; it is covered by a small building supposed
to have been erected about 1798. Three curious repre-
sentations of the Crucifixion are built into it. This well
was formerly a favourite resort, and twelve to fifteen
thousand pilgrims are stated to have visited it at St
Declan's pattern in 1841.

The round tower stands about 66 ft. from the cathedral
and is a very perfect specimen of these structures. It
measures 95 ft. 4 in. in height, and is decorated with
string-courses of sandstone,

ARCHITECTURE

129

Cashel took its name from the stone fort (caiseal)
which was erected there in the fifth century by a King
of Munster. The round tower is the oldest of the remain-
ing group of buildings, probably dating from the tenth
century ; the small, but beautiful, Romanesque church,
known as Cormac's chapel, which was founded by
Cormac MacCarthaigh king of Desmond and bishop
of Cashel, in 1127 A.D., comes next in date, while the
cathedral belongs to the end of the thirteenth century.
The round tower is now incorporated in the cathedral
at the north-east angle of the north transept, there
being a doorway into it from the triforium. The tower
is about 85 ft. in height, with a circumference of 51 ft. ;
the walls are about 4 ft. in thickness. It has a round-
headed doorway nearly 12 ft. above the ground.

Cormac's chapel is a beautiful specimen of Romanesque
architecture ; it consists of a nave and chancel, with a
square tower on each side in the position occupied by the
transepts in later churches, making the plan of the chapel
cruciform. The towers act as buttresses and support
the thrust of the vaulting and of the heavy stone roof.
The nave measures 29 ft. 8 in. by 17 ft. 8 in., and it is
roofed by a barrel vault ; the chancel has a groined roof
and measures 13 ft. 8 in. by 10 ft. 10 in. Both nave
and chancel have crofts with a second stone roof above
them. The south tower has a square embattled top,
but this is a later addition. Originally it had a conical
cap like the north tower. The chief interest of the chapel
is its decoration, both inside and outside. The arcading
is most elaborate, having panels which were painted
with diaper work, while there were figure subjects on
the walls and ceilings. The principal entrance is on
the north, where the round-headed doorway consists
m I

130 MUNSTER

of five orders with a high pediment over the arch.
There are a varied and interesting series of carvings
on the capitals, and over the doorway in the tympanum
there is a curious figure of a centaur shooting a lion.

The cathedral is an aisleless cruciform building with
a square tower at the junction of the nave and choir.
Its internal length is 166 ft. 9 in. and width 132 ft". 8 in.
Cormac's chapel was connected with the east side of the
south transept ; it was entered by a doorway opened in
the west gable of the chapel in the transept. The nave
of the cathedral is short compared to the choir, and it
has been suggested that part of the length of the nave
was cut off and is now occupied by the castellated
structure at the west end. This latter structure was
probably built about the end of the fourteenth cen-
tury and used as a residence by the archbishop ; the
central tower of the cathedral was probably built about
the same time. In 1495 Garrett earl of Kildare burnt
the cathedral, and when asked by Henjy VII his
reason . for doing this, replied that he had burnt the
cathedral because he thought the archbishop (David
Creagh) was inside it. At the southern part of the
enclosure are buildings, probably erected in the fifteenth
century, for the Vicars Choral. The Vicars Choral were
constituted a corporation for the purpose of owning
land : they had a curious seal, having for its device the
pipes of the organ, the organist, and eight choristers.
The cathedral was damaged by Cromwell's soldiers ; but
it was repaired in 1686, and restored in 1729 : in 1748
Arthur Price, archbishop of Cashel, having unroofed and
dismantled it, obtained an order from the Privy Council
constituting the parish church of St John's, Cashel,
the cathedral church of the diocese. Upon the dis-

ARCHITECTURE

131

establishment of the Irish Church the buildings on the
rock of Cashel were vested in the Irish Board of Works
to be preserved as a National Monument. The modern
cathedral of Cashel is built in the Georgian style ; it
is a parallelogram in plan and has a tower with a spire
at the west end.

Cloyne (Cluain, a meadow) is a small town situated
about 4 miles from Midleton, Co. Cork ; a bishopric
was founded here in the sixth century by St Colman.
The See of Cloyne has undergone various changes,
having been united to Cork from 1431 until 1638 ; it
was united to Cork and Ross from 1660 to 1678, and was
a separate bishopric from 1678 to 1835, after which it
was again united to Cork, forming the diocese of Cork,
Cloyne, and Ross. The ancient cathedral is still in use :
it is a low building cruciform in plan, and mainly of
thirteenth century date. It appears never to have had
a tower, the bells having been hung 'in the round tower
which stands about 50 yards to the north-west of the
cathedral. The woodwork screen which divides the
nave from the choir is Georgian in type, and is of some
interest.

Cork (Cor each, a marsh) r the See of Cork was founded
by St Finn Barr in the early part of the seventh century.
The ancient cathedral was demolished in 1735, and a
small Georgian church built to replace it. No account
of the earlier cathedral exists. The Georgian cathedral
was replaced in 1865 by the present cathedral designed
by Mr W. Burgess, R.A., and consecrated in 1870.
It is an imposing cruciform church built in the French-
Gothic style.

Emly (Imleach, a marshy place) : the See of Emly
was founded by St Ailbhe in the fifth century. The

132 MUNSTER

ancient cathedral church was destroyed in 1828 and a
poor modern building erected in its stead.

Kilfenora (Cill Fionnabhrach, the church of Fionn-
abhair) is about 18 miles from Ennis, Co. Clare. One
of the smallest and poorest dioceses in Ireland, it
has had no separate bishop since the seventeenth
century. The cathedral is a small building consisting
of a nave and choir with a bell turret at the west end
of the nave ; there is a sacristy attached to the eastern
walls of the choir. The nave is now used as the Pro-
testant parish church ; the choir and sacristy are roof-
less. The choir, which is the most interesting portion
of the building, has a fine east window of three lights,
with round-headed arches.

Killaloe (Cill Dhd-Lua, the church of Da Lua), Co.
Clare, is situated about 17 miles from Limerick. The
See was founded by St Lua in the seventh century.
The cathedral, which is *of thirteenth century date, is
an aisleless, cruciform building, with a square, massive,
central tower. An interesting Romanesque doorway
is built into the western corner of the south wall of the
nave ; it consists of an arch of four orders, with richly
decorated carved shafts, capitals, and bases..

Limerick (Luimneach, a bare spot of land) : the See
of Limerick is generally considered to have been founded
as early as the fifth century. The interesting cathedral
was probably erected during the twelfth and the
thirteenth centuries. The earliest ground plan appears
to have been in the form of a Latin Cross, but side aisles
were added to the nave in the fourteenth and fifteenth
century, which have obscured the original outline
of the plan. An embattled square tower with four
turrets stands at the west end. Limerick is unique

ARCHITECTURE 133

amongst the Irish cathedrals in possessing carved wood-
work of the fifteenth century ; its stalls, with carved
misereres, ornamented with various grotesque devices,
resemble those which have been preserved in many
English cathedrals.

Lismore (Lios mor, the big fort), in Co. Waterford :
the See of Lismore, founded by St Carthach in the seventh
century, became one of the great schools of Ireland,
and many notable names are connected with it, such
as Cormac MacCarthaigh, and Malachias of Armagh.
Lismore became " a famous and holy city, into the half
of which (there being an asylum) no woman dare enter.
It is filled with cells and holy monasteries, and a number
of holy men are always in it. The religious flow to it
from every part of Ireland, England, and Britain, anxious
to remove thence to Christ." Most of the present
cathedral dates from the seventeenth century, when it
was rebuilt after it had almost been reduced to ruin by
Edmond Fitzgibbon the White Knight. Some portions,
such as the chancel arch and a few windows in the south
transept, probably belong to the twelfth century. In
plan the cathedral is a cruciform, aisleless church with a
tower, crowned by a graceful spire at the west end. It
contains an interesting sixteenth century altar tomb
erected to the memory of John Magrath and his wife ;
five early grave slabs inscribed in Irish are built into
the west wall of the nave.

The bishopric of Ross (Ros, a wood), some 10 miles
from Skibbereen, Co. Cork, is supposed to have been
founded about the sixth century ; it became a famous
seat of learning. The See has been united with Cork
since 1583, the style of the diocese being that of Cork,
Cloyne, and Ross. The cathedral was almost entirely

I 3 4 MUNSTER

rebuilt during the seventeenth century ; it contains no
architectural features of importance.

The ancient cathedral of Waterford was founded
by the Norsemen about 1050 A.D. From extant plans
and illustrations it appears to have been a building of
much interest. By an act of vandalism it was com-
pletely pulled down in the latter part of the eighteenth
century, when a new cathedral in the Georgian style
was erected in its place.

Churches

The Oratory of Gallerus, situated Corkaguiney, Co.
Kerry, is the most complete specimen of this type of
building now to be seen in Ireland. It measures 23 ft.
by 1 6 ft. externally ; it is 16 ft. in height; It is built
of dry stones ; the doorway has inclined jambs. Near
it is a stone pillar, ornamented with a cross in a circle,
and incised with the name of Colum.

At Kilmalkedar, at the foot of Mount Brandon, is an
interesting church of probably twelfth century date.
It is surrounded by the ruins of a small early monastic
settlement.

Another interesting church of early type is that of
St Farannan at Donaghmore, between Clonmel and
Fethard, Co. Tipper ary. It is a small Romanesque
building of good proportions, decorated with carving
and cut-stone. The carvings on the west doorway are
especially fine. The church consists of an aisleless nave,
and a small chancel ; it is built of uncoursed rubble con-
taining large irregular stones with small ones between
them.' There is a rubble vault over the chancel ; above
this is a room with a small east window, entered by a
doorway over the chancel.

ARCHITECTURE 135

The Church of St Peter and St Paul at Kilmallock,
Co. Limerick, is interesting. It lies within the walls of
the town and its chancel is used as the parish church.
As well as an aisled nave, and chancel, there is a south
transept, and attached to the north-east corner of the
nave is a round tower about 50 ft. in height. The east
window of the chancel has five lights. In the north aisle
of the nave some interesting tombs are to be seen. The
walls of the church were protected with battlements. *

Castles

Cahir Castle, Co. Tipperary, is a picturesque example
of Tudor building : as it now stands, it presents archi-
tecture of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, with
the restorations carried out in 1840 by the Earl of
GlengalL The castle, which occupies a large space,
is irregular in outline : it consists of a square keep with
extensive outworks, which form an inner and outer
vallum. It became the property of the Butlers lords
of Cahir, and still remains in the hands of their de-
scendants in the female line. In 1599 it was described
as the only famous castle of Ireland which was thought
impregnable, a bulwark for Munster, and a safe retreat
for all the agents of Spain and Rome. It was besieged
by the Earl of Essex in 1599, by Lord Inchiquin in 1647,
and a few years later by Cromwell.

The so-called "Desmond" Castle at Adare, Co.
Limerick, was probably erected on the site of a Norman
mote. The present ruins include a portion of the keep,
the hall, out-rooms, and gate- tower. The buildings show
so few architectural features that it is difficult to deter-
mine the dates of the various portions, but the keep
may have been built in the thirteenth century. The

136

MUNSTER

modern mansion of the Earl of Dunraven is an imposing
structure in the Tudor style; it was built in 1850 of
limestone obtained from the district.

Carrick Castle, built in the fifteenth .century by
Edmond Butler, who died in 1464, is an interesting

The Keep, Desmond Castle, Adare, Co. Limerick

specimen of a Tudor manor-house. It is a large quadri-
lateral pile enclosing a central court. The ancient
front is built in a castellated style ; it faces the Water-
ford mountains to the south, commanding a view of the
vale between Clonmel and Waterford. The Elizabethan
front is considered to have been built by Thomas earl
of Ormonde and Carrick, who died in 1614. The

ARCHITECTURE

137

castle is "especially interesting on account of its north
gallery, which is wainscotted with oak, and has stucco
panels decorated with finely executed heraldic devices.
The Marquis of Ormonde is the present owner of the
castle.

Limerick Castle is stated to have been built by King

Thomond Bridge and King John's Castle, Limerick

John. At each of the north angles is a round tower,
and one remains at the south-west. Trie gateway
is in the centre of the north curtain wall. A view of
the castle circa 1611 shows it to have been roughly
oblong in plan, with the gateway and two angle towers
on the northern end, while at the southern end there
was a tower at the south-west angle and a bulwark
for holding cannon on the south corner. A large store-
house was attached to the western curtain wall. The

138 MUNSTER

castle was besieged by the Confederate Catholics in
1641, when, after a severe siege, the English garrison
surrendered on terms.

Waterford Castle, generally known as Reginald's
tower, is stated to be of Danish origin. It is circular
in plan and some 80 ft. high. A tablet placed over
the main entrance records that the tower was built
in 1003 by Reginald the Dane, that it was afterwards
held as a fortress by Strongbow, that it was later used
as a mint, and finally turned into a police barracks.

The castle of Kiltinane, about 7 miles north of
Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, on the River Glashauney,
is a strong building standing on a rock over the river,
into which there is a drop of 100 ft. on the eastern
side. It consists of a quadrangular courtyard with
three fortified towers, two of which form the modern
house. The towers have walls of great thickness,
and vaulted stone ceilings. The castle well has a
passage leading to it down eighty-seven steps. This
castle was one of the six granted by King John to
Philip of Worcester. It afterwards passed into the
possession of the Lords Dunboyne, and was held by
them at the time of its capture by Cromwell in 1649.
Later it became the property of Richard Staper, who in
1669 sold it to Peter Cooke, by whose descendants it
is still occupied.

About 2 miles east of Clonmel is a mansion built in
the Tudor style, with quadrangular windows divided by
stone mullions. It was probably erected by Alexander
Power in the reign of James I. It is known as Tickencor
House.

In the same neighbourhood are the remains of the
castle of Derrinlaur. The name Doire an lair signifies the

ADMINISTRATION 139

Middle-oak-wood, the neighbouring hills having been for
many centuries covered with woods. The castle was
probably one of the strongholds of the Butlers.

The remains of the ancient walls and the castel-
lated houses at Kilmallock, Co. Limerick, are also worthy
of mention.

ADMINISTRATION

MUNSTER, the largest province in Ireland, has a popula-
tion of 1,035,495, and contains three of the six County
Boroughs, viz., Cork, Waterford, and Limerick. These
three County Boroughs have each a Mayor (Cork, a
Lord Mayor) and Municipal Council, with their several
committees. The county areas are under the control
of the County Councils, which, with the other County
Councils, were established by the Local Government
(Ireland) Act of 1898. The Council, the members of
which hold office for three years, is elected by the county
electoral divisions, and performs numerous important
duties, such as maintaining the main roads of the
county, providing and managing lunatic asylums, etc.
It has power to make bye-laws and to oppose Bills
in Parliament and to prosecute or defend legal pro-
ceedings necessary for the promotion or protection of
the interests of the county. The County Borough
Councils are ." administrative counties " and have
similar powers to the County Councils. Urban sanitary
authorities are called Urban District Councils, and
rural sanitary districts have Rural District Councils.
These Councils have wide powers and responsibilities
in regard to public health and other matters concern-
ing the public good.

140

MUNSTER

Particulars as to the County Borough and County areas
are set out in the subjoined table :

Area on

Number

Popu-

which, the

Valua-

of Mem-

lation
(Census

! Valuation
! has been

tion on
ist March

bers of
Parlia-

of
1911)-

deter-
mined.

1914.

ment (see
Note).

(I)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

Acres

County Boroughs

"Cork .

76,673

2,685

189,470

2

Limerick .

38,518

2,386

75,8i9

I

Water ford .

27,464

1,237

50,142

I

Maritime Counties

Clare

Rural Districts

94,094

795,355

313,701

1 2

Urban Districts

9,138

i, 800

12,987

/

Cork

!

Rural Districts

274,358

1 ,840', 1 96

1,034,215

* 7

Urban Districts

41,703

9,281

89,477

I 7

" Kerry

Rural Districts

140,186

1,165,094

283,604

\ 4

Urban Districts

19,5^5

4,415

31,533

1 4

Waterford

Rural Districts

5 I ,5 2 5

451,323

260,028

I 2

Urban Districts

4,977

1,360

8,778

Inland Counties

Limerick

Rural Districts

104,551

667,519

476,905

2

Tipperary(N.R.)

|

Rural Districts

51,765

488,514

257,408

1

Urban Districts

11,116

4,448

21,144

Tipperary (S.R.)
Rural Districts

64,650

553,023

37 ,336

4

Urban Districts

24,902

4,669

42,738

;

Note. The boundaries of Parliamentary Divisions are not
coterminous with local administrative areas.

ADMINISTRATION

141

EDUCATION

The province is well supplied with educational
agencies, from those of university type to elementary
schools working under the Board of National Education.
The University College (formerly Queen's College) of
Cork is one of the constituent colleges of the National

University College, Cork

University, and has made a notable advance in recent
years. Situated in an elevated and picturesque position
in the western suburb of the city, it possesses charming
buildings which were erected in 1849 on * ne s ^ e f tne
old Gill Abbey, from designs by Sir William Deane.
There is a spacious examination hall, a library and
museum. More recently the beautiful Honan Memorial
Chapel has been added. The number of students, the
majority of whom are Roman Catholics, has increased

i 4 2 MUNSTER

steadily during the last fifteen years. New engineering
laboratories have been equipped, and the College is
virtually a university for the southern province, though
it does not enjoy this status, but is a constituent
college of the National University of Ireland.

The provision for scientific and technical education
is no less complete, and has developed greatly since the
establishment of the Department of Agriculture and
Technical Instruction in 1899. Under the direction
of this Department of State the Technical Instruction
Committees of the counties of the province have adopted
schemes of technical instruction which not only provide
specialised instruction in the smaller towns, but also by
the agency of numerous well-trained itinerant instructors
carry instruction in manual work in wood, farriery,
domestic economy, art, home industries, etc., to the
remotest districts. In some local centres classes in
domestic economy are conducted by nuns who have been
trained in courses specially organised for the purpose.
The value of this teaching has been very marked, and it
was certainly very much needed. No less marked has
been the educational work of the Agricultural Committees
of the County Councils, who, under their schemes, have
carried instruction in agriculture, horticulture, dairying,
poultry-rearing and such-like subjects to all parts of
these southern counties. Indeed, it is naturally in the
rural areas that the activities of the Committees of
Agriculture have their full scope, while in the urban
centres technical education other than agricultural
finds its opportunity. In the city of Cork, for example,
there is the fine Crawford Municipal Technical Institute.
The Crawford Municipal School of Science and Art
occupied the site of the old Custom-house. . A fine

ADMINISTRATION 143

building was opened in 1885, having been restored and
enlarged at a cost of about 20,000 by the late Mr W. H
Crawford, It provided accommodation for classes in
Science and for a School of Art, and had besides picture
and statuary galleries and a public library. With the
great forward movement in technical education which
began with the present century this building was found

Crawford Municipal Technical Institute, Cork

to be inadequate to the needs of technical education,
and during the last few years a handsome building
has been erected and equipped in Sharman Crawford
Street, with splendid engineering, chemical and physical
laboratories, as well as class-rooms for various techno-
logical subjects and 'for domestic training. The School
of Art, which, in addition to providing a general art
training, has for many years done valuable work in
training designers and workers for the lace industry, is
carried on in the older building. The growing demand

144 MUNSTER

for commercial training led the City Technical Committee
to secure and adapt premises in the Mall, where there
now exists a largely attended and otherwise successful
School of Commerce. The municipality also largely
supports the School of Music. A scheme of co-ordina-
tion exists between University College and the Technical
Institute, and engineering students of the former receive
instruction in mechanical engineering at the Institute.

About a mile to the west of the city of Cork is the
Munster Dairy Institute, a fine building which, sur-
rounded by farm land, was reconstructed in 1876, and was
known as the Munster Agricultural and Dairy School.
It is now under the direct management of the Depart-
ment, and serves to provide a thorough training in
agricultural and domestic work for women students.
The course includes dairy work, poultry rearing, garden-
ing, and domestic economy, and the School serves
as a training-ground for teachers of certain of these
subjects.

Waterford has also a flourishing Technical Institute.
For many years its operations were retarded by unsuit-
able premises, but a few years ago the Technical Com-
mittee, under the chairmanship of the late bishop,
the most Reverend Dr Sheehan, who rendered conspicu-
ous service to the cause of education, undertook the
erection of a new school which is more adequate to the
needs of this important town. In addition to the usual
courses in Art, Science, and Technology, there is a Day
Trades Preparatory School for boys preparing for an
industrial career. Similarly in Limerick, after working
under disadvantageous conditions for long years in the
Athenaeum and elsewhere, the Technical Committee
prepared plans for, and a few years ago erected, a

^SHJ*

I

146

MUNSTER

handsome Technical Institute, which is providing higher
instruction in Science, Art, and Technology.

Some of the smaller towns in Munster have also shown
great progress! veness in the matter of technical educa-
tion. Towns such as Queenstown (now Cobh), Tralee, and

Training College, Limerick

Clonmel have made noteworthy progress. Queenstown
(Cobh), with the neighbouring dockyards at Haulbow-
line, has developed elementary instruction in engineer-
ing, though its buildings are still inadequate to its needs.
Tralee has made amazing progress. A few years ago
excellent work was carried on in old builders' workshops,
to which entrance was gained through a yard bearing
the uninviting notice, " All Funeral Requisites Promptly

ADMINISTRATION 147

Supplied/' and only during the last year or two has a
dignified and adequate building, providing for evening
courses of instruction and a Day Trades Preparatory
School, been erected for this busy and thriving western
town. But in this case, as in that of all the others
mentioned, considerable difficulty has been experienced.
The Act of 1899, which provided a sum of 55,000
per annum for technical education, made no provision
for buildings. Suitable buildings were almost non-
existent. It has then become necessary in all the
instances named to borrow money for the new build-
ings, the interest and repayment of which forms a
heavy burden on the annual income of the committees,
whose operations must of necessity be correspondingly
restricted. Tipperary has a small school managed by
a joint committee of the urban and rural districts.

There are two training colleges for national teachers in
Munster one for male teachers the De La Salle Train-
ing College at Waterford and one for female teachers
at the Laurel Hill Convent at Limerick. Both colleges
are lodged in excellent buildings.

The space available here will not serve to enter into
any details respecting the secondary schools in the
province, but it may be noted that they are very generally
worked under the rules of the Intermediate Education
Board. They are denominational in character, and
Catholic schools are commonly conducted by a religious
order. Near Cashel there is the large and important
Secondary School known as Rockwell College. Other
schools are conducted by the orders of the Christian
Brothers and Presentation Brothers. Standing high
above the city of Cork, on Our Lady's Mount, is the
Christian Brothers Schools. These schools are remark-

148

MUNSTER

able in many respects. They possess fine physical
and chemical laboratories, workshops (with power)
for manual work in wood and metal, an extensive
school museum, and other features bearing evidence of
the enthusiasm and unselfish devotion of the late Brother
Burke, to whom is due in large measure the success of

Ursuline Convent, Waterford

the schools and the direction of the education, which is
well designed to fit the pupils for a future of useful-
ness. The Christian Brothers College is a smaller in-
stitution dealing with senior pupils. A noteworthy
Secondary School for girls is the Ursuline Con vent F at
Waterford, which has a successful department for
domestic teaching. There are excellent Protestant
schools of secondary type both for boys and girls..

INDUSTRIES AND MANUFACTURES 149
INDUSTRIES & MANUFACTURES

MUNSTER is a dairying and cattle-raising province,
and its interests, speaking generally, are agricultural.
Nevertheless it has a number of flourishing manufactures,
and the history of many of these are full of instruction.
Perhaps the oldest and most permanent of these is
the textile industry mainly the weaving of woollen
goods. It is not generally known, however, that the
growing of flax and the spinning of this into yarns by
hand was general throughout the county of Cork two
hundred years ago. In the middle of the eighteenth
century linen yarns were exported from the county
to England, and there is extant an interesting letter dated
1 8th April 1752 from a London firm addressed " To the
Yarn Makers of the Citty and County of Cork or else-
where," asking for yarn. Flax was grown in West;
Cork (Dunmanway, Clonakilty, etc.). In 1851 there were
no less than 5991 acres under flax in Munster, while in
1915 there were only 259 acres, of which 257 acres were
in the county of Cork. There are three scutching mills,
two worked by water and one by steam. In 1662 the
manufacture of linen cloth was started in Charleville.
About 1750 the manufacture began to flourish in West
Cork. In that year there was a spinning school at
Youghal. In 1726 the manufacture of sailcloth was
carried on extensively at Douglas, near Cork. It is
noteworthy that the first mill for the spinning of flax
by machinery in Ireland was started in the city of Cork
about the year 1800. It contained 212 spindles for
the spinning of coarse, dry-spun yarns suitable for the
manufacture of canvas and sailcloth, which were pro-

150 MUNSTER

duced in considerable quantity in the city and county.
It was not until close on thirty years after that the
first movement was made to establish the trade in Belfast.
It has since almost died out in the south, but has been
revived by the Cork Spinning and Weaving Company,
Ltd., of Millfield, which .now employs over 900 persons
in the spinning and weaving of flax for home markets.

In 1810 a cotton mill was erected near Bandon.

But it is the woollen industry which is really native,
and which, in spite of many vicissitudes and much
repressive legislation, has survived, is flourishing to-day,
and gives promise of great development. Ireland was
famous for its woollen industry and trade as far back as
the twelfth century several centuries before the English
industry. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries Irish
friezes and serges were known and esteemed in the
English markets, and in the fourteenth century were
famed in Naples and other parts of the Continent.
The early instruments of manufacture were, of course,
the distaff and spindle, the hand-combs and the hand-
loom. The shearing of the sheep was done by men,
but the spinning and weaving were carried out by the
women, who clothed themselves and their families with
excellent, if rough, native cloth. But the growing trade
suffered serious reverses. In the reigns of Henry VIII.
and Elizabeth the jealousy of English manufacturers
led to a systematic boycott of the Irish trade, which
suffered considerably, and Irish woollen-workers were
driven from Ireland to the, Continent. By the amended
Navigation Act of 1663 Ireland was prohibited exporta-
tion to English colonies. The trade, however, was
partially re-established, and during the administration
of Ormonde a mill was started in Clonmel and carried

INDUSTRIES AND MANUFACTURES 151

on by five hundred Walloon families, to whom were given
land and houses on long and easy leases. The industry
developed in Cork and elsewhere, and in the latter part
of the seventeenth century expanded into an important
export trade. As a result English woollen manufacturers
became alarmed at Irish competition and took steps
to stop it. In 1698 both Houses of Parliament addressed
William III. upon the growing manufacture of cloth
in Ireland and sought to have it stopped. A Bill was
forced through the Irish House of Commons by which
duties on all exports of drapery were imposed, ranging
from 10 per cent, to 25 per cent, ad valorem. In the
same year the English House of Commons passed a
Bill forbidding exportation from Ireland to England
or elsewhere of her woollen manufactures. The results
were lamentable and the next half century was a period
of extreme poverty. The recovery of the industry has
been slow, due probably to the fact that those who
brought about its re-establishment prior to 1698 were
not native Irish, but Protestant immigrants from
England, France, and Holland, who left the country
owing to the suppression of their industry. They carried
their skill and accumulated experience with them, and
so the industry continued to wane. The recovery of
this much-tried industry is comparatively recent. In
the woollen and worsted spinning and weaving there
were nine factories in 1853, and forty-three in 1863.
There are to-day about eighty-five woollen factories in
Ireland. Among the oldest of these is Messrs Martin
Mahony & Bros., Ltd., of Blarney, who were established
in the middle of the eighteenth century, and whose
first power-looms were established in 1863. They
have now over one hundred looms at work and a

152

MUNSTER

large spinning plant. They employ nearly six hundred
hands, and export their woollen and worsted goods to
the Colonies and various European countries. Messrs
O'Brien Bros., Ltd., of Douglas, near Cork, employ over
four hundred hands in the manufacture of tweeds,
while Morrogh Bros. & Co., of Douglas, also employ a

Twisting Machines in a Woollen Factory

large number of hands. There are several other smaller
but growing industries, and it is believed that the recent
establishment of an Irish Woollen Manufactures Associa-
tion may have an important influence on the develop-
ment of this truly native industry. The manufacture
of hand-woven goods is still carried on largely on the
western seaboard.

In the cities, of Cork and Waterford there are large

INDUSTRIES AND MANUFACTURES 153

bacon-curing industries. In Cork also is the large
clothing factory of Messrs Lyons & Co., the important
chemical works of Messrs Harrington, and the two large
breweries of Messrs Beamish & Crawford and Messrs
Murphy. Tanning, which was so important an Irish
industry in the past, is also carried on.

There are in the province over one hundred and. seventy
corn mills, of which over eighty are in the county of Cork.
It is interesting to note that forty-seven of these are
driven by water power, while eleven others employ
both water and steam.

Cork is an important centre of distribution of dairy
and other agricultural produce, and the Cork Butter
Exchange, situated on the north side of the city, is one
of the largest in existence.

There are some shipbuilding and- engineering works,
and the most important of these is the Royal Dock-
yard at Haulbowline, in Queenstown (Cobh) Harbour,
which gives employment to about a thousand men.
The harbour itself is one of the finest in the world, and
in pre-war days was a calling-place for transatlantic
liners. It provides anchorage with 20 ft. of water
alongside the jetties, and vessels of over 24 ft. draught
can discharge at the deep-water quays.

The shipping industry is of great importance, and Cork
has over four miles of quays. The principal trade is
in grain, timber, coal, live stock, provisions, and whisky.
Its interests are watched over by the Cork Incorporated
Chamber of Commerce and Shipping. Reference must
also be made to the Cork Industrial Development
Association, which grew out of the Cork International
Exhibition of 1902, which served a valuable end in
drawing attention to the potentialities of Irish industries.

154 MUNSTER

In the year following the exhibition some of the citizens
of Cork formed themselves into an Association, and a
year or two later summoned the first All- Ireland
Industrial Conference, which has been followed by several
others, to the great encouragement of the industries
of the country.

Limerick has a small harbour, the accommodation of
which is increased T?y the provision of a floating dock,
810 ft. long, and a graving dock of 428 ft. in length.
The trade is mainly imports of wheat, maize, coal, and
timber. There is a small export trade. The city is
noteworthy industrially on account of its large bacon-
curing establishments. It is stated that the three large
establishments of Messrs Shaw, Matheson, and Denny
together slaughter some ten thousand pigs a week.
One of the principal industries also is the condensed
milk factory of Messrs Cleeve. Near by at Adare, the
seat of the Earl of Dunraven, interesting experiments
have been for some time in progress on the growing of
tobacco, and excellent cigarettes are manufactured in
the village from tobacco thus grown.

Scattered throughout the province are home industries,
some of which have attained to some importance.
Principal among these is the making of lace. Flat
Point Lace was first introduced into Ireland by the Sisters
of the Presentation Convent at Youghal as a means of
assisting the sufferers from the famine in the years
1847-50. It was founded on Italian models, but has
been so much modified and enriched that it may be
considered an Irish lace, and the industry has been
greatly developed subsequently, most beautiful specimens
of work having been produced both here and in the
convent of Kenmare, A similar impulse originated

INDUSTRIES AND MANUFACTURES 155

the industries carried on with such success in the in-
dustrial department of St Joseph's Convent School
at Kinsale, where lace-making is supplemented by
drawn-thread work, embroidery, machine knitting, etc.

In Limerick, too, home industries have been en-
couraged, and " Limerick lace " is widely known. The
industry was introduced nearly ninety years ago by an
Englishman named Walker, who brought over a group
of teachers and started lace-making in a disused store
at Mount Kennet, the site of the present docks at
Limerick. The industry took firm root. The Irish
girls proved apt pupils, and in course of time large
numbers of women and girls were employed. It
flourished exceedingly during the first decade of the
reign of Queen Victoria, and as many as six hundred
women and girls found employment. The industry
declined after the death of the Prince Consort and
the consequent period of Court mourning, to which the
decline in the trade was attributed. Doubtless also
the introduction of inexpensive machine-made lace
good in design and execution made in the English
midlands was a powerful cause. Some thirty years
ago efforts were made by Mrs Vere O'Brien to revive
the industry, and with some success. Classes were
established in George Street and at the Good Shepherd
Convent, while lace was also made by several local firms.
It is much to be regretted that the outbreak of war
struck yet another blow at a struggling industry which
produces so beautiful and artistic a product and on which
so much voluntary labour has been bestowed.

Hand-spinning and weaving is still carried on as a
home industry in some parts of the province, but the
disadvantages of this mode of production led to the

156 MUNSTER

workers being gathered together under one roof where
this was possible, and the weaving industry of the
Convent of Mercy, Skibbereen, established by the
Bishop of Ross, claims to have been the first to estab-
lish weaving within the walls of an Irish convent in
recent times. The example thus set was followed by
Queenstown (Cobh), Kilkenny, Carrick-on-Suir, and
Stradbally (Waterford). Later it was, with other in-
dustries such as machine hosiery-knitting, embroidery,
vestment-making, etc., started by the nuns of the Con-
vent of Mercy at Gort (Co. Galway), and developed with
considerable enthusiasm.

It is not possible to enumerate the various efforts
made to stimulate home industries, but the valuable work
of Miss Spring Rice at Foynes calls for mention.

AGRICULTURE

Munster is essentially a dairying and cattle-raising
province, and prior to the war tillage had continuously
decreased, while the number of cattle had correspondingly
increased. The county of Limerick is famous for its
fine pasture-land, and dairy farming is carried on ex-
tensively in the rich " Golden Vale " which constitutes
a large part of the county. Cork too, especially the
eastern portions of the county, has a rich soil. In the
year 1851 there were 732,294 acres under corn crops
and 403,973 acres under green crops in Munster. In
1915 these areas had been reduced to 284,946 and 260,304
areas respectively. At the same time the acreage
of hay, which was 372,072 in 1851, had more than
doubled by 1915. The great decline was in the amount
of wheat grown. There was a great decline in the area
of potatoes, but a large increase in cabbage. In 1918

INDUSTRIES AND MANUFACTURES 157

mainly through the operation of the Compulsory Tillage
Regulations, the area under corn crops was brought
up to 420,271 acres, while the area under green crops had
been raised to 286,210 acres.

T

Creamery, Tipperary

There were in the province in 1918 as many as 1,702,194
cattle, 174,063 horses, and 709,963 sheep.

In the matter of forestry it may be said that Munster
has over 94,000 acres under forest trees, of which nearly
25,000 acres are in County Cork and nearly 24,000 in
County Tipperary. As many as 293 acres were planted
in the year ending 3ist May 1915 with 649,459 trees,
mainly conifers. In the same period 904 acres were
cleared and over half a million trees felled.

158 MUNSTER

FISHERIES

The sea and inland fisheries are of considerable
value. In the seventeenth century pilchard fishing
was general in West Cork and Kerry, Flemish vessels
loading cargoes, whilst pirates found it worth while
to watch for these vessels at sea. Pilchards were on
the coast in the early half of the nineteenth century,
but about 1880 they suddenly abandoned it. Hake
also was taken in quantity inshore, and are now fished
in from 50 to 200 fathoms from the Kerry coast,
the catches being landed at Milford or Fleetwood.
Spaniards had fishing stations on the coast in the six-
teenth century, and many islands and bays on the
south-west coast are still called " Spanish/' Mackerel
is the main southern fishery, and there is a spring and
autumn mackerel fishery almost exclusively off the coast
of Munster. The capture during the spring fishery of
1915 was the smallest for many years. The bulk of
the fish were landed at Baltimore (where there is a
Fishery School), amounting to 23,512 cwts., and at
Valentia, amounting to 20,837 cwts., of a total value
of 21,168. That landed at other centres were of a value
of 5788. When the spring mackerel fishing flourished
about 1865 Kinsale was the centre, and large craft
flocked thither from the Isle of Man, from Lowestoft,
Cornwall, and France. The local fishermen were at
first unprepared, and the Baroness Burdett-Coutts made
a loan of 10,000 for the Baltimore district to enable
the Cape Clear fishermen to get modern boats. This
loan was repaid. The autumn mackerel fishery of 1915
was the worst recorded, and yielded about 53,000 cwts.,
a decrease of 14,000 cwts. on the figure for the previous

INDUSTRIES AND MANUFACTURES 159

season. The amount realised, however, increased from
26,000 to nearly 33,000. In addition to the above,
there was in the year referred to about 148 tons
of other fish, principally plaice, black soles, and ray
landed at Dingle (Kerry). There are oyster fisheries
in Tralee, Kinsale, and Waterford, and a mussel
fishery at Castlemaine Harbour (Kerry). The sea-

Lax Weir Salmon Fisheries

weed, which on burning yields " kelp," a source of
potash, is collected from the western coast and the
kelp exported. About 934 tons was exported from
County Clare in 1915.

The inland fisheries are widely known for the
catch of salmon and trout. These fisheries are under
the control of Boards of Conservators. The number
of rod licences decreased during the war, but in
1913 no fewer than 3526 were issued for the whole
country, of which a considerable proportion were for

i6o

MUNSTER

the southern province. Lismore, Waterford, Kenmare,
Waterville, Killarney, and Limerick are the better-
known districts for
salmon fishing. Grants
are made by the Depart-
ment through their
Fisheries Branch to the
various Boards of Con-
servators to assist in
the improvement and
protection of the inland
fisheries. There is a
very old and important
salmon fishery in the
neighbourhood of
Limerick, the great
"Lax weir" on the
Shannon reminding us
of the ancient Scandi-
navian interest in Irish
fisheries. The illustra-
tions show the Lax weir

Salmon Crib, Lax Weir and one of the "Cribs"
which are fixed in a

vertical position in the gaps of the weir. The fish
having passed through the narrow vertical opening in
the crib cannot return.

DISTINGUISHED MUNSTERMEN 161

DISTINGUISHED

MUNSTERMEN

MUNSTER is particularly rich in men of mark. Cork,
it has been claimed, stands first among Irish counties
in intellectual and artistic achievement. The difficulty
of making a selection of representative men for Munster
has been accordingly considerable. To her, more
than any other province belongs pre-eminence for the
number and quality of her native Gaelic bards. Space
permits only the inclusion of a few great names ; but
Aonghus Fionn O'Daly, Geoffrey Fionn O'Daly, Egan
O'Rahilly, David O'Bruadair, Tadhg MacBrody, Pierce
Fitzgerald, Pierce Ferriter, John O'Tuomy, not to men-
tion many others, are household names among the Gael.
Nor are great scholars and divines wanting. One has
only to mention Peter Lombard (d. 1625), Stephen
White (d. 1647), Geoffrey of Waterford (d. about 1300),
Thomas Hibernicus (fl. 1306), Thomas Carve (d. 1672).
In the volume for Ireland will be found notices of
Robert Boyle, Daniel O'Connell, William Wallace, and
Daniel Maclise.

ALLMAN, George James, F.R.S. (1812-98), zoologist
and botanist, was born at Cork. He was Professor of
Botany in Dublin University from 1844-54, and in Edin-
burgh from 1855-70, where he was also keeper of the
Natural History Museum. He was President of the
British Association in 1879. He is noted for his brilliant
investigations into the Ccelenterata and Polyzoa. His
most important works are A Monograph of the Fresh-
water Polyzoa (1856) and A Monograph of the Gymno-
blastic Hydroids (1871-72).
m L

162 MUNSTER

BARRY, James, R.A. (1741-1806), the painter, was
born at Cork, and studied under West in Dublin.
When a young man he attracted the notice of Edmund
Burke, who became his friend, and enabled him to
complete his studies in France and Italy. His great

John Philpot Curran

achievement was the series of colossal historical paintings
illustrating the progress of Human Culture, with which
he decorated the walls of the Society of Arts in
London. His independent nature involved him in con-
stant disputes, and led to his expulsion in 1799 from
the Professorship of Painting in the Royal Academy.

DISTINGUISHED MUNSTERMEN 163

BRENDAN, Saint (484-577), called the Voyager, to
distinguish him from Brendan of Birr, his fellow-student
at Clonard, and, like him, one of the twelve apostles of
Ireland, was born at Tralee. The Navigatio, with which
his name is associated, was one of the most popular
legends of the Middle Ages, and was no doubt based on
an actual voyage to some of the islands in the Atlantic.
He founded the monastery of Clonfert about 553,
and visited Columba at lona in 563.

CURRAN, John Philpot (1750-1817), orator and states-
man, was born at Newmarket, Co. Cork. He sat in
the Irish Parliament from 1783-97, and was a strong
advocate of Reform and Catholic emancipation. It
was at the bar, however, that he gained his great repu-
tation as an orator and wit. He defended Archibald
Hamilton Rowan in 1793, Wolfe Tone in 1798, and
others of the United Irishmen. He was Master of the
Rolls from 1806-14. His last years, clouded by domestic
unhappiness, were spent in London, where he died. He
is buried in Glasnevin.

DAVIS, Thomas Osborne (1814-45), poet and patriot,
was born at Mallow, Co. Cork, his father, an army
surgeon, being of Welsh origin. He was educated at
Trinity College, and for a time practised at the bar. An
ardent member of the Reform Association, he helped
to start The Nation newspaper (1842), in which most
of his writings appeared. When the New Ireland
movement was founded, Davis became its natural
leader. He was the loftiest and most inspiring of
the national writers. His finest poems are the Lament
for Owen Roe O'Neill, Fontenoy, and The Sack of
Baltimore.

DOWDEN, Edward (1843-1913), Shakespearean scholar

164 MUNSTER

and critic, was born at Cork. When only twenty-four
he became Professor of English Literature in Dublin
University, which post he held until his death. He
published many volumes of critical essays and biog-
raphies, but his fame rests on his Shakespere . . . his
Mind and Art (1875) and his Life of Shelley (1886).

GOUGH, Sir Hugh (1779-1869), First Viscount and
Field-Marshal, was born at Limerick. He is said to have
commanded in more general actions than any British
general with the exception of Wellington. He served
through the Peninsular War, and the China War (1842),
for his services in which he was created a baronet.
As commander-in-chief in India he defeated the
Mahrattas (1843). After his successful conduct of the
Sikh War (1845-49) he was raised to the peerage and
granted an annual pension of 4000.

GRIFFIN, Gerald (1803-40), novelist and poet, was
born at Limerick. He is best known by his novel The
Collegians, which was dramatised by Dion Boucicault as
The Colleen Bawn in 1828, and his Tales of the Munster
Festivals. He wrote many ballads and lyrics of great
delicacy and beauty : Eileen Aroon, Gile Machree, and
Lines to a Seagull are favourites. He became a Christian
Brother in 1838.

HARVEY, William Henry (1811-66), botanist, was
born at Summerville, Co. Limerick. His discovery,
when a youth, of a new moss led to a life-long acquaint-
ance with Sir William Hooker. In 1835 he left Ireland
for Capetown, where he succeeded his brother as Colonial
Treasurer, returning home in 1842 owing to ill-health,
which dogged him throughout life. In 1844 ne became
Curator of the Dublin University Herbarium, and in
1856 Professor of Botany. He was the greatest Irish

Field-Marshal Viscount Gough

166 MUNSTER

botanist, and the leading authority on Algae. He
published the Flora of several continents. His best-
known works are Manual of British Alga (1841) and
Phycologia Britannica : a History of British Seaweeds

(1846-51).

HINCKS, Edward, D.D. (1792-1866), the Egyptologist,
was born at Cork. He was a Fellow of Trinity College,
but, passed over by the university, retired to a living
in KiUyleagh, Co. Down. In this obscure parish he
laboured for forty years, and won European fame by
his investigations into the language of the Egyptian
hieroglyphics and the cuneiform inscriptions. Among
many brilliant discoveries, the determination of the
numerals and the names Sennacherib and Nebuchad-
nezzar are due to him. His work appeared in the
Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy. He was
awarded the Prussian order Pour le merite.

HOGAN, John (1800-58), the eminent sculptor, was
born at Tallow, Co. Waterford. In 1824 he was sent
by friends to Rome to perfect his studies, and there he
married and settled down for twenty-four years, when
the revolution drove him back to Ireland. The last
ten years of his life were spent in Dublin. Among his
chief works are the Drunken Faun, which won 'the
admiration of the great Thorwaldsen, the Dead Christ
in the Carmelite Church, Clarendon Street, and the
statues of Drummond, O'Connell, Dams, and Bishop
Doyle.

KEATING, Geoffrey, D.D. (1570-1650), historian, born at
Burgess in Tipperary, of Norman descent, and educated
at Bordeaux, is perhaps the best-known name in modern
native Irish literature. His History of Ireland (Forus
Feasa ar &rinn), compiled from the oldest manuscript

DISTINGUISHED MUNSTERMEN 167

sources, is his chief work. An English paraphrase of it
by O'Conor (1723) was until recent times the principal
authority for most writers on early Irish history. The
Irish text, widely circulated in MS. copies down to the
Famine, has since been carefully edited and translated.
Another well-known work by Keating, which now ranks
as a classic, is his Three Shafts of Death (Tri Bior-
ghaoithe an Bhais). He is one of the greatest
masters of Irish prose, and at the same time a poet
of distinction.

KICKHAM, Charles Joseph (1828-82), poet and novel-
ist, was born at Mullinahone in Tipperary. One of the
leaders of the Fenian movement, he was sentenced
to fourteen years' imprisonment in 1865. His fame
rests on his powerful novel Knocknagow.

MERRYMAN, Bryan (1747-1805), poet, was born at
Clondagach near Ennis, and was by profession a school-
master. His chief work, Cuirt an Meadhon Oidhche
(The Midnight Court), a satirical poem of great power,
is generally regarded as the most original product of
modern Gaelic literature. It has been elaborately
edited and translated into German by the late Ludwig
Stern, Director of the Imperial Library, Berlin.

MULREAPY, William, R.A. (1786-1863), genre painter,
was born at Ennis, Co. Clare. When a boy, his father,
who was a leather breeches maker, removed to London.
The great sculptor Banks, discerning the boy's talent,
gave him drawing lessons in his studio, and afterwards
he entered the schools of the Royal Academy. He
rapidly attained a foremost place in his profession. His
Idle Boys procured his election as A.R.A. in 1915, and
within a year he was made a full member, a rare dis-
tinction. His work is distinguished by the perfect

168 MUNSTER

drawing, minute and exquisite finish, and brilliant
colouring. Usually only one of his small pictures was
exhibited annually. Most of them have become the
property of the nation, and are now in South Kensing-
ton. The most celebrated is Choosing the Wedding Gown

O'CuRRY, Eugene (1794-1862), Irish -scholar, was
born at Dunaha, near Carrigaholt, Co. Clare, his
father, a small farmer, being an enthusiastic Gael. In
1834 a life of uncongenial labour was terminated for
O'Curry by a post in the Ordnance Survey under
Petrie [q.v. Leinster volume], where his duties, involving
research in the Dublin libraries, enabled him to lay the
foundation of his unrivalled knowledge of ancient Irish
manuscripts. On the establishment of the Catholic
University in 1854, he wa s appointed to the chair of
Irish History and Archaeology. His lectures, published
as Manuscript Materials for Ancient Irish History (1861)
and On the Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish
(1873), marked an era in the study of Irish civilisation, and
are still indispensable. In conjunction with O'Donovan
[q.v. Ireland volume] he transcribed and translated the
Ancient Laws of Ireland, death overtaking both these
illustrious scholars as they were preparing the first
volumes for the press.

O'DALY, Donough Mor (d. 1244), in Irish Donnchadh
mor Dalaigh, one of the greatest of native Munster
poets, " who never was and never will be surpassed/'
according to the Four Masters, was a native of Clare,
and lived at Finnyvarra. His poems are mostly re-
ligious, many being in praise of the Virgin. He is buried
in the monastery of Boyle.

OTiHELLY, Maurice (d. 1513), Archbishop of Tuam

.DISTINGUISHED MUNSTERMEN 169

generally known as Maurice de Portu or de Hibernia,
was a native of Cork. He studied at Oxford, and, enter-
ing the Franciscan Order, became Regent of the Schools
at Milan and Padua. He was a noted classical scholar.

Rev. George Salmon, D.D.

aiding in the production of the classics in one of the
great printing houses at Venice. He published many
of the works of Duns Scotus, with commentaries, at
Venice and Paris, between 1497 and 1513. He was
appointed Archbishop of Tuam in 1506.

O'SuLLiVAN, Owen Roe (c. 1748-84), the most popular

170 MUNSTER

native Minister poet, was born at Meentogues, near
Killarney. He served for a time in the British navy,
taking part in the Battle of the Saintes in 1782, under
Rodney, to whom one of his odes is addressed. A writer

Luke Wadding

of great power and variety, his stirring Jacobite songs
are immensely popular in the South of Ireland.

SALMON, George, D.D., F.R.S. (1819-1904), mathe-
matician and divine, was born at Cork. He became a
Fellow of Trinity College in 1841, his first mathematical
paper appearing in 1844. His chief works, translated

DISTINGUISHED MUNSTERMEN 171

into many languages, are Conic Sections (1847), which
still remains the principal text-book on the subject ;
Higher Plane Curves (1852), Modern Higher Algebra
(1859), and Geometry of Three Dimensions (1862). From
1866 to 1888, when he became Provost, he was
Regius Professor of Divinity in Dublin University. As
a theologian he is best known by his Introduction to the
New Testament (1885).

WADDING, Luke (1588-1657), historian and philoso-
pher, was born at Waterford and educated at Lisbon,
becoming a member of the Franciscan Order. His life
was spent almost wholly in Rome, where he founded
the College of St Isidore in 1625. It was at his instance
that Rinuccini was sent as papal nuncio to Ireland in
1642. He was a voluminous writer, his most important
works being the history of his own Order, Annales
Minor um Ordinum Franciscanorum (1625-54) and his
edition of the works of Duns Scotus in 12 folio volumes,
prepared in 1639. The remarkable portrait of him by
Ribera (Spagnoletto) here reproduced is in the National
Portrait Gallery, Dublin.

INDEX

ABBEYS and Monasteries

Adare Augustinian Hermit-
age, 124

Adare Franciscan Abbey, 124

Adare Trinitarian Monas-
tery, 124

Askeaton Franciscan Friary,
122

Athassel Augustinian Priory,
119

Corcomroe Abbey, 125

Ennis Friary, 120

Holy Cross Abbey, 117

Kilcrea Abbey, 122

KilmallockDominican Friary,

120

Adare, Desmond Castle, 135
Aghadoe Cathedral, 126
Agriculture, 156
Ahenny High Cross, 115
Allman, George James, 161
Ancient population, i, 104

vegetation, 57
Annestown, 74
Arbutus, 80, 83
Ardfert Cathedral, 126
Ardmore Cathedral, 127
Ardtully, 74
Area, 6, 140
Armada wrecks, 117
Arra mountains, 13, 54, 56
Askeaton, 122
Athassel, 119
Auger, Lough, 67

BACON curing, 153
Ballycotton Bay, 36
Ballyhoura mountains, 12

172

Ballymotey pillar stone, 109
Ballyvaughan, 29
Bandon, 46

river, 22, 24, 25, 62
Bantry, 46

Bay, 11, 15
Barrow, The, i, 37
Barry, James, 162
Barytes, 75

Baurnadomeeny dolmen, 107
Beenoskee, 17
Beetles, 101
Bere Island, 33, 38
Birds, 92
Black Castle, 109
Blackwater, The, 8, 21, 36, 62
Blasket Islands, 17, 32, 37,

116

Bogge r agh mountains, 14, 55
Bolus Head, 37
Boneen Bridge, 68
Bourchier's Castle, 109
Boundary, 6
Boyle, Robert, 161
Brandon, Mount, 17, 32
Brendan the Voyager, 163
Brewing, 153
Brick-making, 76
Burren, The, 6, 18, 59, 74, 84
Butterflies, 100
Buttevant, 46

CAHA mountains, 15
Caher, 50

Caherbarnagh, 14, 22
Caherconlish, 58
Caherconree, 112
Cahir Castle, 136

INDEX

I 73

Canals, 29
Cappoquin, 5, 36, 48
Carrantuohj.il, 16
Carrick Castle, 1 36
Carrick-on-Suir, 50
Carrigogunnil Castle, 58
Carve, Thomas, 161
Cashel, 51

Rock of, 104, 129
Castleisland, 17, 39, 75
Castlemaine Harbour, 32
Castles

Adare, 135

Black, 109

Bourchier's, 109

Cahir, 135

Carrick, 136

Carrigogunnil, 58

Derrinlaur, 138

Kiltinane, 138

Limerick, 137

Tickencor House, 138

Waterford, 138
Cathedrals

Aghadoe, 126

Ardfert, 126

Ardmore, 127

Cashel, 129

Cloyne, 131

Cork, 131

Emly, 131

Kilfenora, 132

Killaloe, 132

Limerick, 132

Lismore, 133

Ross, 133

Waterford, 134
Caves, Mitchelstown, 12, 58,

IO2, I2O

Cental mB&ice, The, 3
Charleville, 5, 46
Chemical works, 153
Ciar-raighe, The, 2
Clare, County, 2, 52, 106
Clear, Cape, 34, 38
Clear Island, 38
Cliffs of Moher, 30, 59

Climate, n

Clochdns, no

Clogher Head, 54

Clonakilty, 46

Clonmel, 50

Cloyne Cathedral, 131

Cnoc Rafann, 4

Coal measures, 22, 52, 60, 76

Cobh (formerly 'Queenstown),

28, 35, 36, 46

Comeragh mountains, 12, 21, 55
Coomhola grits, 58, 77
Copper ore, 74
Corcomroe Abbey, 125
Covcu Duibhne, The, 3

Laighde, Th&, 3
Cork Butter Exchange, 153

Cathedral, 131

City, 44

County, 4, 42, 107

Crawford Municipal Techni-
cal Institute, 142

Harbour, 24, 35, 36, 44, 46

Industrial Development As-
sociation, 153

Our Lady's Mount Schools,
147

University College, 141
Cormac's Chapel, 129
Corn mills, 153
Councils county, borough,

urban and rural, 139
Crannogs, 114
Crosses, High, 114
Curran, John Philpot, 163

DAIRY Institute, Munster, 144

Ddl gCais, The, 2

Davis, Thomas, 163

De La Salle Training College,

Waterford, 147
Derg, Lough, 6, 19, 24, 88, 92
Derrinlaur Castle, 138
Derrynane, 17

Derrynasaggart mountains, 14
Desmond Castle, Adare, 135
Devil's Bit, The, 6, 13, 55

174

MUNSTER

Dingle, 32, 39

Bay, n, 15, 17, 32
Dolmens, 106
Donaghmore, Church of St

Farannan, 134
Dowden, Edward, 163
Dtin Beag, ill
Dungarvan, 36, 48
Dunmanus Bay, 34
Dunmanway, 46
Dursey Island, 15, 33
Dysert O'Dea Cross, 114

EDUCATION, 141
Emly Cathedral, 132
Ennis, 31, 52
Friary, 120
Ennis tymon, 53
Eoghan-acht, The, 3
Erratics, 68
Eskers, 71

FASTNET, The, 38

Fauna, 92

Fenit, 32, 39

Fergus, The, 52, 76

Fermoy, 3, 46

Ferriter, Pierce, 161

Fethard, 51

Fin Barre, St, 46

Fir Muighe Feine, The, 3

Fisheries, 158

Fishes, 96

Fitzgerald, Pierce, 161

Flesk, The, 15

Flora, n, So

Forestry, 11, 157

Forts, no

Foynes, 31

GALLERUS, Oratory of, 134
Galtee mountains, 12, 55, 87
Galtymore, 12, 51, 55
Gap of Dunloe, 16, 66
Geoffrey of Waterford, 161
Glacial period, 64
Glashaboy, The, 68
Glengarriff, 15, 34, 89

Golden Vale, 48
Gortnagulla dolmens, 108
Gouganebarra, 24, 55
Gough, Field Marshal, 164
Goulding's Glen, 68
" Great Clave Find," 105
Griffin, Gerald, 164
Guitane, Lough, 56, 67
Gur, Loch, 108, 114

HARVEY, William Henry, 164
Haulbowline, 153
Herbertstown, 58
Hibernicus, Thomas, 161
High Crosses, 114
Hincks, Edward, 166
Hogan, John, 166
Holy Cross Abbey, 117
Hungry Hill, 15

IRISH speakers, 5
Ivernoi, The, i

KANTURK, 46
Keamaneigh, Pass of, 68
Keating, Geoffrey, 166
Keeper Hill, 13, 56
Kelp, 159
Kenmare, 33, 39

River, i, n, 15, 33, 39
Kerry, County, 2, 4, 38, 90, 108

Head, 30, 31

Slug, 97

Kickham, Charles Joseph, 167
Kilcommon dolmens, 106
Kilcrea Abbey, 122
Kilfenora Cathedral, 132
Kilkee, 30, 52, 60
Killaloe, 20, 52

Cathedral, 132
Killarney, 39, 42

Lakes of, 39, 67, 82
Killorglin, 39
KLmakeldar Church, 134
Kilmallock, Church of St Peter
and St Paul, 135

Dominican Friary, 120
Kilnabby Cross, 116

INDEX

Kilrush, 52
Kiltinane Castle, 138
Kilvickadownig fort, no
King John's Castle, Limerick,

137
Kinsale, 35, 46

Old Head of, 35
Knockboy, 15
Knockeen dolmen, 109
Knockfeerina Hill, 56
Knockgraffon mote, 113
Knockmeald own mountains, 12,
21, 55

LACE-MAKING, 154

Lake dwellings, 114

Lakes, 18

Lakes of Killarney, 39, 67, 82

Lax Weir, 160

Lead mines, 75

Leane, Lough, 39

Lee, The, i, 8, 22, 62

Limerick Castle, 137

Cathedral, 132

City, 51, 154

County, 2, 4, 51, 108

Laurel Hill Convent, 147

Technical Institute, 145
Limestone, 58, 75

quarries, 75
Liosavigeen fort, 108
Liscannor Bay, 30
Lisdoonvarna springs, 53
Lismore, 48, 113

Cathedral, 133
Listowel, 31, 39, 76

and Ballybunion Railway, 28
Lombard, Peter, 161
Long Reach, Killarney, 39
Loo Bridge, 56
Loop Head, 30

MAC BRODY, 'Tadhg, 161
Mac^illicuddy's Reeks, 16,55, 80
Maclise, Daniel, 161
MacMahon Tomb, 121
Macroom, 46

Mahon, Lough, 36

Mallow, 5, 46

Mangerton, 16

Marble, 75

Maurice de Portu, 169

Merryman, Bryan, 167

Midleton, 75

Mines and minerals, 74

Mitchelstown, 46

Caves, 12, 58, 102, 120
Mizen Head, 34
Moher, Cliffs of, 30, 59
Monastic foundations, 117
Mono-railway, Co. Kerry, 28, 31
Moraines, 66
Moths, loo
Mountains, 12
Muckross Lake, 39
Muintear Bdire, The, 3
Mulready, William, 167
Munster Dairy Institute, 144
Muscraighe, The, 3

NAGLES mountains, 55
Natural features, 7
Nenagh, 51, 76
Newcastle West, 52, 76
Nore, The, 37

O'BRIEN'S Tower, 60
O'Bruadair, David, 161
O'Connell, Daniel, 161
O'Curry, Eugene, 168
O'Daly, Aonghus Fionn, 161

Donough M6r, 168
Geoffrey Fionn, 161
O'Fihelly, Maurice, 168
Ogham stones, 114
O'Rahilly, Egan, 161
Oratory of Gallerus, 134
O'Sullivan, Owen Roe, 169
O'Tuomy, John, 161
Our Lady's Mount Schools,
Cork, 147

PALLASGREEN, 58
Paps, The, 14, 55

176

MU.NSTER

Parknasilla, 33
Pass of Keamaneigh, 68
Population, 5, 140
Potter's clay, 76
Purple mountains, 17

QUEENSTOWN. See Cobh.

RAILWAYS, 25
Rainfall, n
Rathkeale, 52
Red Deer, 92
Reginald's Tower, 138
Reptiles, 96
Rivers, 18

Rock of Cashel, 104, 129
Rockwell College, Cashel, 147
Roscrea, 51
Ross Cathedral, 133
Island, 74

SALMON, George, 170
Shannon, Estuary of, 31, 88

River, 6, 13, 18, 51

Gorge, 53, 63
Shipbuilding, 153
Shipping, 153
Silvermines mountains, 48, 54,

56, 75

Skelligs, The, 37, 116
SMbbereen, 46
Slate quarries, 76
Slieve Ardagh coal-field, 76
SUeve Aughty hills, 6, 13, 54
Slieve Bernagh hills, 13, 52, 54
SJieve Bloom, 6
Slieve Elva, 18
Slieve Miskish mountains, 15
Slievenaman, 4, 12
Slievenamuck, 55
Sneem, 33
Soils, 73
Spiders, 102
Staigue Fort, no
Stone circles, 107

huts, no
Suir, The, i, 7, 20, 37, 64

TANNING, 153
Tattan's Gorse, 68
Tearaght lighthouse, 37
Telegraph cables, transatlantic,

33

Temperature, n
Templemore, 51
Thurles, 51
Tickencor House, 138
Tipperary, county, 4, 48, 106

town, 51

Tobacco growing, 154
" Tomb of the Good Woman* s

Son" 1x8
Traffic routes, 25
Tralee, 32, 39, 76, 146
Tramore, 36, 48

Ui Fidhgheinte, The, 2

Fothaid, The, 3

Liathdin, The, 3

Rdthach, The, 3
University College, Cork, 141
Upper Lake, Killarney, 39, 82

VALENCIA Island, 32

Vellabroi, The, i

Volcanic activity, evidence of,

53, 57
Volcanic rocks, 53, 56

WADDING, Luke, 171
Wallace, William, 161
Waterford Castle, 138

Cathedral, 134

City, 37, 48

County, 4, 48, 109

De La Salle Training College,
147

Haven, 37, 48

Technical Institute, 144

Ursuline Convent, 148
Tell, St Dedan's,'i28
AThite, Stephen, 161
Woollen Industry, 150

YOUGHAL, 36, 46, 76